A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha
by La Pluie de Sang
Summary: As part of the peace treaty, Naruto was sent to Kumo as an infant to serve as hostage.  How would Naruto fare in Konoha when he returns 12 years later?
1. Kyubi's Rampage

Hello there. After four or so years on break, I'm publishing another story. There are plenty of manga spoilers in this story, so if any of you are not caught up with canon, well too bad for you.

For those of you following my other story the _Love Hina_ fic _Closet Weirdo_, progress is still stalled on that one. For that, I apologize. Hopefully, the wagon will get unstuck from the rut someday.

Well, enjoy my newest project:

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

I: Kyubi's Rampage

Life has been hectic lately for the Namikaze Minato. It has been eighteen months since the complete and total victory against the joint forces of Iwa and Suna, and being named Yondaime Hokage after the peace negotiations.

Despite this, war has not yet ended for Konoha: Hostilities still continued with Kumo to the northeast. Lead by the elderly Nidaime Raikage, Kumo had adopted a hit-and-run raider approach to their war against Konoha—they would infiltrate Hi no Kuni and destroy storehouses, rice fields, and anything of value, before retreating back to the safety of the mountain defenses of Kaminari no Kuni. This infuriated the Konoha leaders to no end, yet they realize that surrendering was not an option for Kumo when it was winning a war that their allies lost.

However, there were more pressing matters for Minato to deal with at home in Konoha. His wife, Uzumaki Kushina, was eight and a half months pregnant, and was about to give birth to their first son anytime now. It would be normal for any father-to-be to be nervous about the birth of their fist child, but Kushina's case had a unique circumstance that would endanger Konoha itself: She was the Kyubi Jinchuriki.

Hailing from the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki Clan, the seal holding the Kyubi no Yoko inside Kushina was perhaps the best that any mortal could produce in this earth. This seal, however, had one fundamental flaw—it is greatly weakened during childbirth, or upon the death of the Jinchuriki. Because of the risk of releasing Kyubi during this critical time, Minato has arranged for the childbirth to take place outside the walls of Konoha on October 10th, to be presided by Sarutobi Biwako, the wife of the Sandaime Hokage.

However, two days before the fateful day (as if Minato were not busy enough), two Kumo-nin suddenly arrived without warning at the gates of Konoha, apparently on a diplomatic mission to negotiate the terms of peace. And Kumo has sent their best ninja for this mission: The sons of the late Sandaime Raikage, Ei, and the Hachibi Jinchuriki, Killer Bee.

* * *

"Hokage-sama! We have Kumo-nin at the gates!"

The poor choice of words by the chunin sentry caused Minato to quickly spring into action from his paperwork and activating his Hiraishin that's infamous throughout Suna and Iwa. Quickly reappearing at the village gates, he quickly spotted the two hulking Kumo-nin and immediately launched a tri-pronged kunai at the bigger fellow. Realizing that he was being attacked, Ei activated his raiton armour and barely dodged the Hokage's punch. Infuriated by the recent turn of events, Ei quickly called out to Minato before things got worse.

"Namikaze! Is this the way Konoha treats emissaries from other villages? We came to discuss peace, yet you wish to continue the war?"

Minato quickly scanned the two Kumo-nin and quickly realized who they were. Ei, with his raiton armour activated, rumoured to posses speed rivaling his Hiraishin. If their brief encounter said anything, those rumours were not completely unfounded. Yet even more disturbing for his is Ei's companion and his younger brother, the proud Jinchuriki of Hachibi no Kyogyu, Killer Bee. Bee was said to possess near-perfect control of the beast inside him, a feat only accomplished by Uchiha Madara, Senju Hashirama, and the current Mizukage. And due to Minato's 'greeting', Bee now has the Bijuu Chakra Cloak around him, ready to fight at moment's notice.

"Bee," said Ei in a controlled and firm manner, "stand down."

"But bro, that dude attacked us, yo! His attack was an abomination; a disgrace to all nations!"

"Bee, even though Konoha wants to continue this war, we did not come all the way here to pick a fight."

Minato watched as the Hachibi Jinchuriki complied with his brother's orders. He should reprimand that chunin for causing an embarrassing diplomatic incident against Konoha. But now, he had, not one, but two urgent matters to attend to. He knew this would further lower their bargaining power, but he had to somewhat convince the brothers to postpone negotiations for about a week.

"You said you are here to negotiate," said Minato to Ei. "Let me assemble my advisors to inform them of your arrival. Until then, you are free to move around Konoha under escort."

Minato turned around and walked back into the village, with Ei and Bee behind him. Hopefully, the next few hours will help cool the Kumo-nin down and give them the week to forget about what just happened.

* * *

"Here are our terms of peace."

Ei handed Minato an envelope bearing a seal with the Kumo insignia on it. Minato unsealed the envelope, and together with Sarutobi Hiruzen (the retired Sandaime Hokage) and Uchiha Kagami, read its contents. Minato really wished he wasn't here right now. But Sarutobi and Uchiha insisted that the quicker they can get this peace negotiations over with, the more they can concentrate on Kushina's childbirth. Soon enough, the three Konoha leaders frown as they browsed through its brief contents.

"Shimo no Kuni (Frost Country) to Kaminari no Kuni. War indemnities totaling 500,000 ryou to Kumo. We won the war your coalition! Do you really think the people of Konoha will accept this?"

"Correction, Hokage: You won against Iwa and Suna. You haven't won against us yet. As a matter of fact, we currently hold the advantage."

Ei realized that Konoha, or more specifically, the leadership, seemed to be distracted by something else. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but hopefully, he could seize this opportunity to stick to what he thought were paltry demands by the Nidaime Raikage. Perhaps, he wouldn't even need to threaten Konoha to have Bee reek havoc in the village in full Hachibi mode. But for now, he would press his advantage.

After a tense silence, the Sandaime Hokage spoke up: "Honourable Emissaries from Kumo, if you will, please give us a week to think about this offer. Until then, feel free to enjoy the amenities Konoha has to offer."

"And why should we delay this for a week? Weren't you so quick to try and finish this an hour ago?"

Minato, Hiruzen, and Kagami looked at each other. Kushina's childbirth was supposed to be an S-ranked secret. Heck, even Kushina's status as the Kyubi Jinchiriki is an S-ranked secret, unknown even to most of Konoha's shinobi. And they can't really make some crap up, since Kumo will quickly investigate whether their excuse was a lie or not.

Reluctantly, the Yondaime Hokage began to speak: "Ei-dono, my wife is pregnant, and is about to give birth in two days."

"Wife? What sort of fools do you take us for? You don't have a wife!"

"This was supposed to be an S-ranked secret to protect her from Iwa, but I guess the word is out now."

"Then who is this wife that you speak of?"

"Uzumaki Kushina."

Uzumaki Kushina. Ei quickly recognized that name from his time browsing Kumo's Mission Archives. One of the last two people known to belong from the Uzumaki Clan. Because of the clan's special chakra, the Nidaime Raikage wanted her in Kumo to become the next Nibi Jinchuriki, going as far as trying to kidnap her. To top things off, the person who foiled the Nidaime's plans was the man before him currently pleading his case for a reprieve.

Kumo was at a great advantage here. Not only were they ransacking Hi No Kuni's economic infrastructure, but now, they are now in possession of two pieces of information to blackmail Konoha with, namely the wife, and the future child of the Yondaime Hokage. And Konoha is well aware that Kumo is not known to keep any secrets. Ei and Bee had to admit that they are enjoying seeing the Hokage squirm before them being caught unaware.

"We may consider ourselves bastards, but we are not heartless bastards." Ei stated, with a smirk clearly forming in his face. "So be it, Hokage. Be with your wife. You have your week."

Minato was about to thank Ei for the break, when the Kumo-nin cut him off.

"And remember that anything said during the negotiations will be relayed back to Kumo."

And with those parting words, Ei and Bee left the room, escorted by half a dozen Konoha ANBU.

* * *

"Bro! If you're so bored, why not hire a ho, and get her gored?"

Ei sighed as Bee once again tried to rap his way out of boredom. Indeed, they had nothing better to do for the night. It has been two days since the negotiations were recessed for the week, and they've done all the sightseeing and eating in the local joints as much as they were allowed. But what's getting to him right now was not the pause in negotiations, but the unceasing rapping that his brother has been subjecting him to ever since Bee was a kid. And his latest suggestion was quite ridiculous, if not borderline treacherous.

"Bee, were I to hire a whore, then I may as well go to the Hokage office and make a public donation of my DNA. The last thing that we want is for Konoha to gain a new lineage due to our carelessness. Besides, this is as good a time as any to gather intelligence about this village"

"But bro, what are we to do for a week, while the Konoha ANBU on us peek?"

Ei sighed, as he repeats, "Didn't you hear me the first time? I said, we'll gather as much information on Konoha as they would allow."

"But why agree to the recess, so that Namikaze can attend to his princess?"

"Bee, I have to admit that I have a soft spot for someone in his position. Mum wasn't exactly in prime childbearing age anymore when she had you, you know? Heck, I was already jounin when you were born. My point is, even dad had to take time off from his duties just to attend to your birth. I guess Namikaze deserves the same sort of dignity for someone in that situation."

"Oh, I see," Bee said, wondering what could have been had their father done something different.

As the brothers ponder silently about their late parents, a sudden crash and flash of chakra interrupted their thoughts. The chakra, originating from just inside the village walls, was both strange, yet somewhat familiar to the Kumo duo. Though they knew not exactly the creature the chakra came from, they knew what type of creature the chakra originated from.

"What the heck!" Ei exclaimed. "We're being attacked by a bijuu at this time?"

Bee further elaborated, "Kyubi. Hachibi tells me it's Kyubi."

Why the heck would Kyubi attack now out of all times? As far as the brothers from the Yotsuki clan knew, the last time anyone heard of the beast was at a battle between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara a long time ago. No one else knew what happened to it afterwards. Did they somehow beat the odds, and have the beast make its reappearance now out of all times? Or had someone in Iwa, Suna, or Kiri somewhat gotten a hold of the demon and attacked them during the negotiations and take out two birds with one stone? Either way, things weren't looking good for both Konoha and the delegates from Kumo.

"I can say that the Hokage is not in an enviable position right now." Yup, the Hokage is quite screwed right now, as if the stars aligned themselves to spite him. First, his wife was giving birth. Then, they arrived. Finally, he has to deal with this attack.

Even though they weren't in Kumo, it only took a second for Ei to make a decision: "Bee, try and stall the Kyubi for now while I go and find Namikaze."

With that, the two left the ryokan they were staying in as they head to their respective places.

* * *

Things were frantic in Konoha Hospital. With a lot of people dead, and many more injured due to the first attack, the medic-nin were scrambling and running around to tend to those who needed immediate treatment. Most of the wounds they've seen were quite horrific and were never before seen during their entire careers as shinobi: Chakra burns. But this is not chakra burns in the sense of someone overexerting themselves, nor even burns resulting from a katon jutsu from the Uchiha clan. There burns were corrosive, affecting even a few of the medics giving treatment, until all of the demonic chakra eventually dissipated.

At the nursery, a female medic just received the call to report to the emergency ward. It seemed that the hospital needed all the hands that they could get. As the medic neared the stairwell, the wall beside her suddenly burst open, knocking her down and nearly being hit by debris. As her eyes focused on what had caused the damage, it revealed a gigantic, imposing, dark-skinned man before her.

"Medic," Ei commanded, "where is the Hokage?"

"I-I-I d-don't know…" answered the medic as she laid down in fear before him.

"What do you mean you don't know? This is the nursery, right?"

"Y-Y-Yes.."

"And the Hokage and his wife are about to have their first child. Now tell me where Namikaze is!"

"W-W-What do you mean h-his wife," the medic answered fearfully and confused, "N-N-Namikaze-sama isn't married…"

"Don't you dare play games with me!" Ei exclaimed as he picked the medic up by the collar of her shirt, putting them face to face with each other. "Do you realize what's going on outside? Now tell me, where is Namikaze?"

The medic replied as she began sobbing, "I-I r-really don't know. H-He isn't in the hospital. I'd tell you where he is if I knew…"

Ei stared at the medic eye to eye. She wasn't lying. She was probably more clueless on what's happening around Konoha than he was.

In the end, the eldest son of the Sandaime Raikage threw the medic back on the floor, unhappy by the lack of progress he was having in this crisis. As he turned back to the hole in the wall he created and headed for the battlefield, he muttered out his frustrations.

"Damn you, Konoha. What sort of fools do you take everyone for?"

* * *

"Keep the demon out of the village until Yondaime-sama gets here!"

The ragtag group of Konoha's elite had just successfully pushed Kyubi outside the village walls. However, this progress already came at too dear a cost. Umino-san was dead, along with countless chunin who were unfortunate enough to be guarding the wall the Kyubi went through. Shimura Danzo and Uchiha Kagami were critically injured, and both elders had to be rushed to the hospital. The remainder of those still fit to fight stood at the ruins of the wall, lead by the elders Sarutobi Hiruzen, Akimichi Torifu, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura.

"Minato, what could possibly hold you back at a time like this?" Hiruzen wondered. "I know things went terribly wrong with the labour, but I sure hope you're still alive."

All of a sudden, the Third Hokage's thoughts were interrupted as another gigantic creature appeared in the forest outside Konoha. This beast, rivaling the size of the Kyubi, had the head and torso of a bull, and the lower limbs of an octopus. And from the looks of it, he's facing off against the Kyubi. Unfortunately, the group feared the worst.

"I can't freaking believe it," exclaimed Nara Shikaku in exasperation. "We have to deal with another demon, as if one is not enough?"

Sarutobi interjected before panic completely unraveled the group, "That is the Hachibi of Kumo, and it looks like he's fighting Kyubi. It looks like we'll be getting some help from Kumo…for now."

As the Konoha shinobi try to calm themselves down watching this titanic clash of the demons, Killer Bee in his full demonic form issues a battle cry before the demon in front of him:

"**Kyubi no Yoko, Hachibi and I are going to kick your ass!"**

The Hachibi form suddenly spouted a jet of ink from its underside, propelling itself towards Kyubi at high speed and soaking the surrounding forest and shinobi with ink. As Bee prepared to gore the Kyubi with Hachibi's horns, the nimble nine-tailed fox stepped aside to dodge the attack…or so it thought.

"**LARIAT!"**

With his right arm outstretched, Bee managed to clothesline Kyubi at the neck, sending both giants a couple of hundred of metres more away from Konoha. Normally, such a devastating attack would literally gut any person unfortunate enough to be at the receiving end of it. However, the Kyubi is a demon. And for it, Bee's attack was merely a blow to its body (albeit, a heavy blow).

As Sarutobi and his group watched the two giants wrestle each other, the other Kumo-nin appeared besides the Sandaime Hokage.

"Sarutobi-dono, how goes Bee?"

"It looks like your brother's faring well against Kyubi. I must say I'm glad you've decided to come to our aid."

"**AAARRRGGGHHH! YOU JUST FREAKING BIT ONE OF MY TENTACLES! LET'S SEE IF YOU LIKE THIS!"** Bee then retaliated by biting one of Kyubi's tails, causing it to roar out in pain.

"Sarutobi-dono, it looks like Bee can't win this fight alone," Ei said, while looking at the struggles his brother was having, "I need you to tell me where the Hokage is!"

"Something must have gone terribly with Kushina's labour for all this to happen. I'm not even sure if Minato is alright at this point."

An incredulous Ei asked Sarutobi, "What does the birth of Namikaze's child have to do with this attack?"

"**WHAT THE FREAKING HELL, KYUBI! YOU JUST KICKED ME IN THE GROIN! Wait, Hachibi, you have a groin?"**

"I can't believe I'm doing this again," Ei muttered, as he decided to join the fray and try to seal Kyubi himself. It has been a long time since he last participated in a mission to seal a rampaging bijuu, namely the Nibi no Nekomata, fifteen or so years ago. Before that, the Hachibi rampaged around Kumo numerous times until it was finally sealed into his brother, Bee. He thought those days were long behind him…until this came along. His skills may be rusty, and he's probably biting off more than he could chew (since he had never sealed a beast greater than Eight Tails before), but he was left with no other choice at the moment.

"Sarutobi-dono, go find the Hokage," as Ei begain to order. "You, you, and you," pointing to the Ino-Shika-Cho, "I need the largest sake barrel you can find, the longest chain available, and every sealing parchment in this village!"

"Who the hell are you to order us, Kumo scum!" A Konoha ANBU exclaimed, "Until the treaty is signed, you are our enemies!"

"Have any of you guys fought a tailed beast before?" Ei roared in anger. "As far as I know, I'm the only person within two days' travel to have ever sealed a rampaging bijuu, so quit whining!"

"Sandaime-sama, the Kyubi…" Inoshi stammered fearfully as the pointed to the fighting beasts.

Having momentarily freed itself from Killer Bee, a dark ball of demonic chakra slowly formed at its mouth, gathering energy as it grew bigger. As the beast prepared to release this ball, Ei whispered to himself in resignation:

"Bijuudama: We're screwed."

"**OH NO YOU DON'T, KYUBI!"**

One of Hachibi's tentacles suddenly wrapped itself around Kyubi's mouth, dissipating the Bijuudama for the time being. Kyubi countered with a reverse headbutt on the Hachibi figure's face, though Bee kept the Kyubi's muzzle tightly shut in an effort to prevent the fox from forming and releasing a bijuu's ultimate jutsu. Ei and Sarutobi looked at each other during this reprieve.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" Sarutobi yelled at the group. "Go get everything that Ei-dono needs! Now!"

At that moment four shinobi took off, with the Ino-Shika-Cho gathering Ei's request, while Sarutobi heading to the secret place where Kushina was giving birth to her child.

* * *

"Minato, I don't have much longer to live. Please, let me do this."

The Fourth Hokage painfully looked at his dying wife, while cradling their newborn baby in his arms. He couldn't believe that Kushina would soon be gone. Everything was going well for a while, from the maintenance of the seal, to the childbirth itself. However, everything changed when an intruder killed every guard and medic around, even the wife of the Third Hokage. The intruder even took his son, Naruto, as ransom, forcing him to choose between his wife and his son.

In a moment of what many would say as a major lapse in judgment, he chose his son over his wife, the Kyubi Jinchuriki. He chose his legacy over the safety of the village. By the time he got back to his wife, it was too late: The Kyubi was released, and he now had to fight the intruder whom he thought was long dead—Uchiha Madara.

He wanted to fight the rampaging Kyubi, but he knew that Madara was the greater threat to Konoha. The fight took a good hour until Minato managed to wound Madara critically, forcing him to retreat. By the time the family was reunited, the couple had only one thing in mind: Sealing the Kyubi into Naruto.

But Kushina was dying, mortally weakened by the unsealing of the bijuu. As her final act, she would seal the demon inside their son, Naruto. But it pained Minato to see the woman he loved die like this before him.

"Kushina, you cannot die like this." Minato said in denial. "You're the one who taught me fuinjutsu. You are the person who made me Hokage."

"Minato, we don't have much time," Kushina said as she laboured with every breath she took. "I have to start the jutsu now…"

Minato handed Naruto over to her, as Kushina began the jutsu that would seal Kyubi into the infant. However, Minato realized one thing: Kushina was already too weak to have enough chakra to execute the sealing alone. And it seemed that his wife realized the same thing. This left him with one other choice—a choice that would leave their son an orphan on his very first hours of life. As Kushina finished her part, Minato took their son to face his fate.

"Kushina, I'd have to supplement your jutsu with Shiki Fujin. Your chakra cannot complete the sealing alone, so hopefully, the Shinigami can take some of Kyubi's chakra for the sealing to finish properly. Please forgive me for leaving Naruto without his parents."

Kushina was about to respond when someone interrupted them.

"Minato-kun, are you really thinking of sacrificing yourself and leaving your son alone?"

The couple turned to see the source of the voice, and saw the Sandaime Hokage, obviously winded from the quick trip from the battleground to this place.

"Minato, what the hell happened here?"

"Uchiha Madara attacked us."

This was shocking news for Sarutobi—Uchiha Madara was still alive. After the fight at the Valley of the End, no one could confirm the whereabouts of the rogue Uchiha. Not even his body could be found. There was always a small possibility that he survived the fight, and was still alive somewhere. (After all, the current Tsuchikage, who was said to have fought Madara, was still alive and actively ruling Iwa under his guidance.) This event merely confirmed this. This would explain why Kyubi was extracted. This would also explain why Minato was absent in the village while Kyubi was rampaging.

"Sarutobi-sama," Minato stated, "I want you to make sure that Naruto will be seen as a hero."

The night had been tragic for all of Konoha. But Sarutobi now had the opportunity to prevent one more tragedy from happening.

"Minato-kun, the village needs you. You don't have to do this. Besides, Ei-dono already has a plan set up to seal the Kyubi."

"What?"

"Minato, wait!" Sarutobi cried out in vain as Minato disappeared along with his son in a bright, yellow flash, presumably to the battlefield.

Hiruzen can only hope that the Kumo-nin can beat Minato and save him. In the meantime, all he could do now was tend to the dying wife of the Fourth Hokage and give her comfort in her final minutes.

* * *

Minato appeared on the village gate with his son in his arms, and he was not too thrilled by what he saw.

The Hachibi jinchuriki, in his full bijuu form, was holding down the nine tails of Kyubi no Yoko. The Kyubi itself was bound in long chains tagged with seals running along it. Ei himself was nowhere to be seen, but he had to be somewhere in the vicinity for the Kyubi to be bound like that.

Kumo cannot have the Kyubi—they already have two of the biju with them. And they can't seal the Kyubi right now—Kushina's jutsu was time-sensitive, and could only be executed within a few minutes judging from the amount of chakra left in his wife.

The two giants were too far away from the gate for Minato to throw his tri-pronged kunai and teleport with. Thus, he bit his thumb to let it bleed, performed several hand seals, and executed the jutsu.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Minato and his infant son found themselves on top of a giant frog wearing a yakuza outfit with a gigantic knife on its side. The shinobi of Konoha cheered at the appearance of the frog, for it only meant that the Yondaime Hokage has arrived. The frog looked at the battlefield, and saw the ushi-oni holding down the kitsune.

"**Minato,"** the frog asked, **"what the hell is going on here?"**

"Bunta, time is of the essence! You have to get us there quic-"

Minato never got to finish his sentence. A bright flash of light shone in the night sky, emanating from where the two gigantic beasts were. The form of the Kyubi suddenly became deformed, as it was sucked into some sort of vessel in the forest floor. After the said deed was done, a powerful shockwave shook the immediate area, casing the frog summon to dispel itself and forcing Minato to right himself up in a city street inside the village walls to prevent injuring himself and Naruto.

This was not happening. This was not the way things were supposed to be! Minato kept repeating these denials to himself as he made his way towards the receding form of the Hachibi to meet with the Kumo-nin.


	2. End of Negotiatons

Sweet! 300 hits, six alerts, and six favs - not bad for someone out of commission for four years. Or my expectations are that low.

Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

II: End of Negotiations

Killer Bee, back in his regular human form, leapt from log to log as he tried to locate his older brother, Ei. From the way things appeared so far, the sealing had been a success. However, the Sake-Barrel Version of the Iron Sealing Technique was designed to hold Eight-Tails, and he didn't know how long the seal would last with a greater demon in it.

Eventually, Bee located his brother lying down among the debris, with a seven-foot sake barrel nearby, glowing red from the bijuu sealed within it.

"Bro, are you alright," said a fully concerned Bee. It was indeed rare for Bee to speak normally like this instead of rapping, indicating the gravity of the situation they were in.

"I think I cracked every bone in my body, and tore every muscle," said a struggling Ei, "but I'll live."

"What do we do now?"

"We stay for now. I'm sure Raikage will send reinforcements once he hears of what went on here."

Their conversation was interrupted by a deep hum emanating from the glowing barrel. Ei saw that the container was already weakening, and was in danger of failing in the absence of further supervision.

"Bee, make sure that our efforts will not be in vain and keep Kyubi sealed in its container. The seal is incredibly unstable since it's the Nine-Tails that's sealed in it, so you need to maintain the seal constantly. You have the Hachibi with you, so don't hesitate to use his chakra to take control of the situation."

Bee immediately formed a tentacle and wrapped it around the barrel, causing the barrel to stop humming and glowing. This was such a nuisance, unhappy with the prospect of losing sleep just to keep Kyubi in its container. Yet he knew that the alternative was far worse. Though he came out relatively unscratched, he and the Hachibi knew that they would have lost the fight against Kyubi had Ei not been with them.

Speaking of Ei, he struggled to give Bee one last piece of advice before passing out. "Bee, make sure you don't do anything stupid while we're here in Konoha."

Bee looked at his unconscious brother. He knows that he'll be alright—even the Hachibi told him so. Besides, Ei had done this plenty of times before, though none of those were against a beast as powerful as Kyubi.

He then heard rustling among the debris. Konoha had finally managed to make their way to them and take them back to the village. In welcome relief, it seemed that the Hokage himself finally showed up to check up on them. It also appeared that Namikaze is carrying a blond-haired baby with him—so he wasn't lying after all when he said he had a wife. Before Bee can make his greeting, the Hokage spoke first.

"Killer Bee of Kumo, where is Kyubi?"

"It's right here with me, safely sealed within this barrel." Bee replied as he held his tentacle before them, showing Minato the container.

"Then we must hurry!" Namikaze quickly started, as he prepares Naruto with the spiral seal on his belly starting to fade. "The demon needs to be transferred into him before it's too late!"

"Are you crazy? You want to make your son a jinchuriki! While he's a baby?" Bee exclaimed, as he expresses his shock at the Hokage's proposal.

"Why you are a jinchuriki yourself-"

"I was five! That choice was mine to make, a freedom that no one else can take!"

"And _I_ am Hokage - Head Ninja in Konoha. My word is final here."

"Not while bro and I are here," said Bee in yet another rare break from his rapping. "And as much as I wish to rid myself of this inconvenience of keeping Kyubi under check in this barrel and move him to a more stable container, I don't quite remember the details of how Hachibi-sama was sealed into me. And I wasn't present when Nibi got sealed into Nii. Bro knows, but we'll wait for him to wake up. I have this under control."

"T-Then release Kyubi!"

"Have you gone insane, Namikaze!" Bee can't believe the Hokage's latest proposal. "You want to undo all our efforts just like-"

"I have a plan," pleads Minato, as he watches the seal that Kushina put into Naruto fading fast. "Please, I don't want to waste Kushina's efforts."

"And squander my bro's?"

"Please!"

"No."

Minato can only watch helplessly as the seal on Naruto finally faded to nothing, signifying not only the closing of the short window of opportunity to complete this version of the sealing, but also the death of the person who cast the seal. The Yondaime Hokage wept—he wept for his lost pride, he wept for Konoha, he wept for the loss of the woman he loved.

* * *

"Urgh! I feel as if the Hachibi just ran me over…"

"Actually bro, it's the Kyubi."

A groggy Ei slowly opened his eyes to figure out where he was. Whitewashed walls, medical equipment, no signs of repairs trying to hide holes in the wall...Kyubi? That's right, they were in Konoha for negotiations—actually to wait for negotiations to resume when the nine-tailed beast attacked. He can't believe he just fought off and sealed a bijuu with only Bee with him. He looked around again and saw Bee in a corner, with the barrel currently containing Kyubi at his side.

"The Kyubi ran me over…" Ei wondered looking at Bee for confirmation.

"When the opportunity was ripe, with his paw Kyubi made his swipe."

"And I thought it's the strain from sealing it into the container."

"And that too…"

Ei gazed at the hospital window, and surveyed the damage resulting from the attack that night. It was daytime outside, and it seemed that the people were already starting to rebuild.

"How long have I been out, Bee?"

"It's been four long days, since we made Kyubi pay. Raikage has sent Darui, Jay, and Shi. Oh, how excited will I be!"

Ei sighed at Bee's annoying rap as he put his hand on his face…or tried to. He soon realized that he was immobilized in a full body cast, which meant that he won't be going anywhere for a while.

"Bee," Ei said while examining his body cast, "is Konoha holding me prisoner?"

"No, bro. You've broken every bone when things got bloody; hence why Shi got sent - to heal your body."

The conversation got broken when the barrel immediately glowed red, leaking a frightening amount of demonic chakra. Bee knew the routine and sprung into action, forming a tentacle and wrapping it around the barrel to counter Kyubi's chakra.

"As Kyubi in the barrel languish, the dynamic duo of Bee and Hachibi will cause him anguish. There's nothing that we can't vanquish!"

"Bee," as Ei sighs at another of Bee's pathetic rhymes, "I don't think Kyubi's languishing in the container if it's trying to break out of it. And please, take your job seriously."

And so the brothers from Kumo continued to bicker at each other as Ei continues on what he hoped to be a quick recovery.

* * *

"What are we to do now?"

Minato slumped forward with his chin and arms on his desk as Koharu asked this question. Along with the other advisors Hiruzen, Homura, and Torifu, the five of them were discussing the direction Konoha would take after such a devastating attack. He didn't want to be here in the first place, preferring to lock himself in his apartment with Naruto to mourn for his wife, as he did on the previous three days. Hiruzen managed to get Minato out of his room the afternoon after the attack after suggesting that Naruto needed him. And this morning, Hiruzen paid him a visit, stating that Konoha needed him. Yes, there were things that had to be done. Yet his mind is elsewhere—thinking of Kushina, thinking of what could have been.

"Minato, are you listening?"

Minato looked up to see the four advisors with him, with full concern (and mild annoyance) on their faces.

"I apologize, Honourable Advisors. My mind was elsewhere."

"Minato, I know you're devastated about losing Kushina." Hiruzen started. "But you're not the only one who's lost loved ones in this attack. Biwako died trying to save you…"

Hiruzen looked at Minato as a pang of guilt formed on the current Hokage's face.

"Don't feel guilty about my wife's death, Minato," Hiruzen continued. "You were not the one responsible for her death—Madara killed her."

Hiruzen then saw the shock that formed on his old comrades' faces as he revealed who was ultimately responsible for such destruction. He made a small gesture to them, indicating that he'll give a more detailed explanation later.

"I know you are mourning. I myself am mourning. All of Konoha is mourning. But we also have a great responsibility of making sure that Konoha rises back and recovers from this tragedy. I'm not saying to kill all your emotions, but set those aside for now as we help the village rebuild."

"I'm sorry everyone," Minato responded. "I guess we in this room have sacrifices to make ensure Konoha makes it through."

"Now where were we?" Minato asked, as they continue the meeting.

"As I said, we need to talk about which tasks should be given priority," said Torifu. "You all said 'rebuilding', but that can mean many different things, such as construction, food-"

"Kumo."

"What did you say, Hokage-sama?" The elderly Akimichi asked, inquiring why he was interrupted.

"We can always delay rebuilding for a week or two without causing any major problems. But we were in the middle of peace negotiations with Kumo when Kyubi attacked. I just received a message from the Raikage right before this meeting, and I presume that they wish to resume the talks in two days' time once the original recess ends."

Minato showed a yet-unopened envelope from Kumo (delivered by carrier hawk) to the advisors, indicating that he has yet to see its contents. Hiruzen took the envelope, and read its contents:

"We are sending jounin Darui, Jay and Shi for Ei and Bee. We fully expect that our dignitaries won't be attacked this time. –Nidaime Raikage."

"We're already weakened by Kyubi, and they're sending three more jounin inside our village!" Homura cried out in exasperation.

"Well, this is the type of thing Danzo would do, were the target some other place than Konoha." Torifu added, trying to speculate on the Kumo point-of-view.

"Hopefully, those three were sent to take the Sandaime Raikage's sons home." Koharu said.

"I doubt that, Koharu-sama," Minato replied. "They already hold a great deal of leverage on us right now. Why would they give that up? Kumo is already in possession of two bijuu inside the village."

"Two? Unless those treacherous Kuno-nin had Nii sneak up on us, Bee is the only jinchuriki they have in the village as far as we know," Homura commented.

"Indeed, Homura-sama, there's only one jinchuriki in the village walls right now—Killer Bee," Minato said, while unwittingly being reminded of his late wife. "But don't forget that Bee is currently in possession of Kyubi."

A gloomy pall was cast in the Hokage's office as the advisors realized this fact. Things were not looking good for Konoha in the foreseeable future.

* * *

"Shi, Darui, Jay—I already said that I can walk."

"And I say that you stay in the chair to let your muscles heal up," Shi insisted, as the blond medic-nin from Kumo pushed Ei in his wheelchair as they headed to the Hokages office, with Bee (and the barrel containing Kyubi) behind them. "I swear that you're just as stubborn as Bee and Sandaime-sama. I guess it must run in the family."

"And what sort of impression do you think Konoha would have on Kumo if they see me broken in this chair?"

"At least you're the only thing from Kumo that's broken, Ei." The sluggish Darui retorted. "Besides, take a good look around to see what _they_ have to deal with."

Indeed, the section of the village they were traveling in was _the_ battle zone. Scores of buildings ruined, with a large trench stretching all the way to the village wall and beyond indicating where the Konoha shinobi managed to push the Kyubi out after its initial rampage. Even though it's been five days since the attack and the village started rebuilding, corpses could still be found in the ruins while clearing the debris.

Under normal circumstances, Kumo would have shown no mercy in negotiations, especially if the enemy suffered such a horrible setback as this. (He found it odd for the Raikage to ask for such paltry demends, but Ei thought that their leader must have foreseen Konoha's reaction.) Indeed, as soon as he became conscious, Ei thought that he could have gotten away with demanding land all the way to the border with Ame, with enough leverage left over that Kaminari no Kuni would not have needed to tax its citizens for the next twenty five years. But the accounts Bee told about his encounter with the Hokage that night made him think otherwise.

He knew that the Raikage will lash out on him for this, especially considering that Konoha was severely weakened in what would still technically be the middle of a war. But there was now a threat to Kumo greater than the other four major villages combined. Sure, he could always seal another rampaging bijuu should the need arise, but that didn't mean that he'd look forward to doing so.

But before he faces the Raikage, Ei would have to deal with Konoha. And Konoha will not like what he was about to propose.

* * *

Minato, Hiruzen, and Torifu, along with their guards Kakashi and Shikaku, were seated face-to-face with the Kumo dignitaries on the other side of the table. The three Konoha leaders present knew that the war with Kumo would have to end right now to give them a chance to recover and finally start rebuilding. Yet they knew that they didn't have much to offer anymore due to the Kyubi attack. They, along with the rest of the able advisors, have thought a plan out over the course of the preceding two days, and they hoped that, in the end, Kumo would accept such a generous offer.

"We have thought about the terms that you gave us a week ago, Honourable Emissaries from Kumo," Minato stated. "Konoha had decided to accept these terms as stated and let Shimo no Kuni accede to Kaminari no Kuni, and the 500,000 ryo demanded shall be paid immediately."

Minato watched nervously as Ei and his companions look back at them in silence, before conferring with each other and shaking their heads. This was not looking good; Kumo was indeed taking full advantage of the situation and intended to squeeze all they could out of Konoha. Minato turned to Hiruzen and Torifu, who silently gave him the go-ahead to offer Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Springs), and failing that, even chunks of Hi no Kuni itself to Kaminari no Kuni. However, Ei spoke before Minato could revise his offer.

"The terms have changed, Hokage."

This is just what Minato feared would happen. The only question in his mind right now was how far Hi no Kuni would be able to amputate itself before being bled dry.

After another period of agonizing silence, Ei continued.

"_Status quo ante bellum_."

Both Konoha and Kumo nin were shocked at what Ei just said. They can't believe it: Konoha was off the hook – just like that?

"What the heck are you doing Ei?" Jay protested. "You're completely ignoring Raikage's new orders! Heck, you're even disregarding the old orders! You do realize that this is treason!"

"Did the Kyubi attack wreck your brain, Ei?" Shi added. "Perhaps you should go back to the hospital and let _us_ continue the negotiations."

Ei however, remained calm in his wheelchair despite his comrades' objections. He knew that Darui, despite his calm exterior, also had reservations with this plan. Only Bee, with the Kyubi container beside him, could see where this was going. With the noise level now bordering on intolerable, Ei slammed his hand on the table to grab everyone's attention, nearly splitting the stone masonry in half. With silence restored, Ei continued.

"However, we take Kyubi as payment for services rendered."

Minato knew it! He thought that Ei's new offer was too good to be true! And just as he feared that night, Kumo wanted the Kyubi. As the rest of the Kumo-nin calmed down at Ei's twist in this negotiation, Minato can no longer contain the rage that was building up inside him.

"Absolutely not! You already have Nibi and Hachibi!"

"Minato," Hiruzen tried to intervene, "calm down-"

"Do you think the other villages will be happy at upsetting the balance of power?"

"Do you think we care?"

"Kyubi was Konoha's to begin with!"

"Really, Hokage," Ei retorted. "So you do admit that you've been hiding a jinchuriki from everyone all this time."

"You won't have Kyubi."

"And can Konoha protect Kyubi? The attack convinced us that the bijuu would be safer in Kumo's hands."

"You won't have Kyubi. The attack was an accident."

"Accident?" Ei countered as he questioned the Hokage. "From what Bee told me, you were wailing about Uchiha Madara and your deceased wife, the former Kyubi Jinchuriki, that night. You even had the gall to suggest that Bee release the Kyubi to seal it into your son!"

The Konoha elders, along with Kakashi and Shikaku, were shocked at this revelation. First, Kumo now knew about Madara. To top that off, Hiruzen was horrified at the thought of the Kyubi being released, rampaging once more, and losing his successor had Bee complied with Minato's orders. The Third would need to have a long talk to the Fourth about this.

"You won't have Kyubi," the Hokage reiterated once more.

"You really want to keep Kyubi that badly?" Ei quipped, as he gave a quick glace at Bee and the inanimate Kyubi container. "So be it. We can simply leave this weak container right now, and head for a safe place as we watch the Return of Kyubi no Yoko when the seal unravels two hours from now."

The Konoha-nin's eyes widened at this threat. They realized that without the combined efforts of both surviving seal masters, the Fourth Hokage, and Jiraiya (who was unfortunately away from town at the time), the only people in town capable of keeping Kyubi in check were the Kumo-nin before them. The threat was very real, and Kumo need not even lift a finger on this one to pull it off.

"And once Kyubi's done finishing you off, Kumo will descend to mop things off and claim our prize," Ei finished with a huge grin on his face.

This was not good! Kumo will simply walk away, leave Kyubi, let Konoha be destroyed, and they'd still end up with Kyubi once things were done!

"Bee, Darui, Jay, Shi, prepare to leave."

"Wait!" Minato cried in desperation, as his guards Kakashi and Shikaku rushed to the door to prevent the Kumo-nin from leaving.

Unfortunately for Konoha, Ei simply got around this minor inconvenience by wheeling himself to the wall and punching a hole in it, leading to the street below. Several ANBU began to surround the area upon hearing the 'explosion' coming from the Hokage's office.

"Five Hundred Million Ryo! Shimo, Yu, and the entire North Coast of Hi no Kuni."

"You can't bribe us out of this one, Namikaze."

"We'd even send ten…twenty of our best jounin as hostages!"

"And why on earth would we want a bunch of your jounin to snoop…" Ei suddenly paused, as he saw a solution what would be, at the very least, agreeable to both parties. Besides, with the threat that Madara posed, Ei felt that Kumo need not have Konoha destroyed unless necessary.

"…actually Namikaze, I think you have a point there."

Minato breathed a sigh of relief as he was given another chance to continue the negotiations. He caught a glimpse of the Sandaime Hokage's eyes boring down on him, reminding him to tread lightly and not squander this opportunity. He watched as Ei turned his chair around and headed back to the table, with the Kumo-nin following him and Bee returning to his position by the barrel containing the Kyubi.

"Thank you for agreeing to continue, Ei-dono," Minato said. "Do you have several people in mind?"

"Namikaze, you told Bee that you wanted to make your son jinchuriki."

Minato bit his lips, doing his best to contain his tears and his anger as he saw where Ei was heading with this.

"How were you planning on doing that, Namikaze?" Ei asked, curious on how the Hokage's plan differed from the Iron Sealing Technique that he was accustomed to.

"S-Shiki Fujin." Minato reluctantly answered, feeling as if he were betraying the village. "I planned on calling the Shinigami to take some of Kyubi's chakra so that Kushina's Shisho Fuin (Four Symbols Seal) can seal Kyubi inside Naruto. But it's too late now: Kushina's seal is gone."

"I see," muttered Ei, before he continued. "So you planned on dying on us and leaving your son an orphan, am I right?"

"But you interf-" Minato suddenly cut himself off, not wanting the Kumo-nin to be driven away once again due to his anger. After calming down, he continued, "as I said, it's too late now. The best we could do now is call Jiraiya-sensei back and help me stabilize the current container, at least until Naruto grows up and is able to execute Shisho Fuin himself."

"How about we use the Tekko Fuin (Iron Armour Seal) for the moment, at least until your son can do that jutsu you mentioned," Ei offered. "However, in exchange, your son will stay in Kumo until he turns twelve."

Minato's eyes began welling up with tears, as the events of the past few days were beginning to take a toll on him. First, his wife was killed by Madara. Then Konoha was weakened by the Kyubi's release. And now, his son Naruto was going to be taken to Kumo to spend his entire childhood there. Feeling disillusioned by all this, he turned to Hiruzen for comfort and assurance.

"Minato, I'm afraid to say this, but I think that Ei-dono's offer is reasonable, and what's ultimately best for Konoha."

"S-Sarutobi-sama…I-I'm losing Naruto too…" Minato whimpered, feeling overwhelmed and struggling to retain his composure.

"You will get visitation rights – once every six months," Ei added. "Besides, I'm planning this treaty to be reciprocal, and we'll send one of our jounin here as hostage, with the same visitation rights to either check up, or relieve him."

"You just complained about our shinobi spying on you," Torifu complained. "How do we know that you're not doing the same to us?"

"Akimichi-san, you will practically be getting a Kumo-nin by the end of this," Ei responded. "Besides, I doubt that you can protect your bijuu at the shape this village is in right now."

"And besides a spy in Konoha, what are you getting out of this?" Torifu countered.

"Madara...you are to give our observer all you know about Madara and the Uchiha techniques. If he's after your bijuu, I'm guessing that he'd go after Kumo's at some point in the future, so having you as partners is not bad an option. And should you have the opportunity to kill him, do so. To top that off, there's the fact that there will be a Kumo-friendly jinchuriki in Konoha twelve years from now."

Torifu was uneasy about this, as he looked to Hiruzen and Minato for their opinions. In the end, the three of them nodded their heads in agreement, considering that this is the best that anyone can come up with without hurting Konoha in the long-term (or insulting Kumo's pride). It will hurt, and they will be humiliated, but Konoha will pull through this.

Before finally drafting their agreement on parchment, Minato had one last request.

"M-May I accompany Naruto to Kumo?"

"Sure, Namikaze," said Ei, after giving the request a good thought. "You might as well be present when the Raikage ratifies the treaty."

* * *

**PS** - I know that the first few chapters may rub off some of you the wrong way, but it is not my intention to turn this fic into Konoha-bashing (though I must admit that this chapter is technically that). Kumo simply caught Konoha with their pants down at the most inopportune of times, and capitalized on it. Kumo Domination? Definitely. But rest assured that Konoha will get better, with the help of our little friend of course. After all, the title and summary of this story suggests so.


	3. Transfers, Transfers, Transfers

The Faroe Islands? I didn't even think there'd be _Naruto _fans from a bunch of islands in the middle of the North Atlantic, let alone someone who would read my fanfic. Just goes to show you the reach that the World Wide Web has. Now I wonder if I can get someone from North Korea...

To my three hundred or so readers, thank you for reading. I now present you the third chapter of this story.

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

III: Transfers, Transfers, Transfers

Along the stormy waters off the rocky coast of Kaminari no Kuni's Southern Coast, a small ship steadily steamed its way towards Unraikyo – a rarely-used and almost-abandoned facility that served as Kumo's port. Though the occasional boats that the ship encountered may simply pass the ship off as another vessel judging from its appearance (both outside and in), its contents were anything but unimportant. From the sons of the Sandaime Raikage, to Kumo's elite jounin, and culminating with the Hokage, his son, and his entourage, the ship carried its precious cargo through the rough waters. Even though its hull was constantly bashed by two-metre waves, the ship itself was relatively stable – in the sense that it was in no danger of sinking.

The voyage itself, however, was far from comfortable for its passengers.

"Bro, I think Jay's gonna hurl…again."

And as if on cue, the bald, lanky ninja rushed towards the starboard side and emptied the contents of his stomach into the raging sea. He was soon joined in this longtime maritime ritual by one of the guards accompanying the Hokage, Nara Shikaku.

"Bro," Bee started to complain, "why be stingy in this sea wavy, and not send for the best ship in the navy?"

"And wait a month more just to dust one of the ships off from storage?" Ei replied. "You do realize that the crew had to be recalled, the vessel inspected for deterioration, replace the oil, reinstall the guns…"

"I get it bro, you need not be groggy, yo!"

"Bee…shut up."

As the brothers once again bicker at the bridge, things were a lot quieter in a room a deck below. Staring at the imposing walls of rock jutting out from the seas below, Minato gently cradles his sleeping son in his arms. He can't help but think that the violence of the storm outside ironically rocked the boat enough for little Naruto to peacefully lull him to sleep. At first glance, one wouldn't know that such a young and innocent babe now harboured a freshly-sealed bijuu inside him. So young, yet blissfully unaware of the turmoil that surrounded him ever since the night he was born.

Minato knew that their remaining time together was limited. Sure, he was allowed to visit him every six months, but he knew that the time that he will be spending with Naruto will be brief before returning to Konoha to resume his duties. And he wasn't sure that Konoha can afford him to be out of the village every six months, not with the way things have been unraveling lately. He had already failed Kushina as a husband. He questioned himself on how he could be a father to Naruto in such a bind.

For now though, he will cherish the present and make the most out of the remaining time with his son.

* * *

"So Hokage-dono, you actually came to pay us tribute."

Minato summoned all his will to calm himself down as he took this insult from his Kumo counterpart. The Nidaime Raikage—the pale, elderly and frail old man before him had definitely seen better days. A hard-line conservative, this man was responsible for shaping the way Kumo runs right now, from the popular decision to abolish the Chunin Exams early in his rule, to his questionable attempts to gather people with bloodline limits into the village, which the villagers feared would dilute their 'superior' genetics. He gave way to the Sandaime Raikage when the bijuu started their series of rampages, only to return to office when the Sandaime unexpectedly died. However, though still retaining a sharp mind, he was now a shadow of his former self, struggling to even get around the village without the help of his grandchildren Nii and Shi, let alone travel all the way to Konoha to negotiate.

Minato once again glanced around the room they were in. The Raikage's office was bigger than Konoha's, with large windows offering a commanding view of Kumogakure no Sato. Minato, with his son in his arms, was seated with Nara Shikaku and Akimichi Torifu beside him, while Kakashi stood guard behind them. Opposite him were the Raikage, Ei, and Bee (who seemed to be scribbling something in a notepad), with Darui acting as bodyguard.

"And why do you have a child with you, Hokage?"

Minato looked at Naruto in his arms, fearing that this would be the last he would see of him for a long while.

"This is my son, Naruto," Minato replied. "I brought him here as part of the treaty."

"A hostage, huh," the old man quipped. "Yotsuki," calling Ei by his rarely-used clan name, "may I see the draft?"

This was the moment of truth for the eldest son of the Sandaime Raikage. He took two scrolls out of his pocket and handed one copy to the Hokage, before proceeding to unfurl the other scroll before the current Raikage. He then took several steps back, ostensibly to guard the door.

The Raikage quickly scanned the document, before letting a frown show on his face and shaking in anger.

"Yotsuki," the Raikage asked as he tried to contain his rage, "what is the meaning of this?"

"It is as it's written," an unusually calm Ei replied.

The Konoha-nin tensed up, as Minato held Naruto closer to him and prepared himself for a potential fight. The Raikage did not like what he saw, and anything could happen now.

"And what happened to the East Coast of Hi no Kuni? To a corridor to the Southern Sea? To the secondary mission?" Said the Raikage in a low voice.

"I felt that Kumo need not stretch its forces unnecessarily, judging from the original set of demands that you've set when we left," Ei justified. "As for the secondary mission—the new Kyubi Jinchuriki is here, isn't it?"

"Yotsuki," the Raikage continued, "I did not ask for Namikaze's son."

Minato's eyes narrowed at what the Raikage was implying. Knowing his obsession with bloodlines, the Raikage was probably asking for (or planning to kidnap) a Hyuga or an Uchiha.

"And we return him in twelve years, Yotsuki?"

"You know the threat, Raikage," Ei answered back, "or did all those hawks and lizards I've sent lose their way to Kumo?"

"But to let Konoha recover…"

"And Kumo will still come up on top."

The Nidaime Raikage suddenly rose in a fit of rage and hurled the Kage Hat at Ei, aiming to decapitate him. Ei calmly stood his ground, catching the potentially lethal hat with his right hand. The Konoha-nin, meanwhile, mobilized and stood in front of the Hokage and his son with their weapons drawn, ready to engage should the Raikage turn on them.

"YOTSUKI! DARE YOU UNDERMINE MY AUTHORITY?"

"I did what is best for Kumo, Raikage."

Minato and his companions nervously look on as the baby Naruto began to wail, awakened by the elder's outburst. The old man, showing a rare burst of relative strength for his age, slowly walked towards the huge, dark-skinned man, with his eyes locked on Ei's.

"So, you think you can do better than me, Ei," the old man growled as he stood in front of his soon-to-be former subordinate.

Ei just stood there staring back at his father's predecessor, prepared to take on whatever the Chief Elder of Kumo had to dish out.

"FINE! HAVE IT YOUR WAY! YOU'RE RAIKAGE!"

The old man quickly stormed out of the Raikage's office, with his back behind everyone, before slamming the door that leads into the office.

Everyone, from the Hokage, his entourage, Bee, Ei, and Darui, just stood still, dumbfounded at what just happened. After some tense moments, Naruto's cries began to quiet down, and Ei wondered.

"What the heck just happened?"

"I believe Nidaime-sama just gave you a promotion, Ei…or should I say, Yondaime Raikage-sama." Darui quipped as he gave his friend a quick smirk.

"Congrats, Bro! You're gonna be pro!" Bee commented, his jovial (though annoying) rhymes breaking the apprehensive mood the room was in.

"Oh shut up, Bee."

* * *

Six months after the treaty was signed (and with Darui sent to Konoha as hostage), Minato was once again in Kumo to visit Naruto. At first, he was rather surprised that his son would be staying with the family of the Nidaime Raikage, though he could now see that this was Ei's subtle way of also keeping a close eye on his predecessor. Shi and Nii were excited at the prospect of having a little brother in their home. Nii was especially fond of playing with the son of the Yondaime Hokage…until little Naruto started addressing her as 'Obachan' (which now annoyed Nii to no end). In the end, it went to Shi to prepare Naruto for his meeting with his father.

Minato couldn't understand at first why Ei would be upset at his entourage. He brought Sarutobi with him as an advisor, as well as Akimichi just in case there were wrinkles in the treaty. Kakashi also came along with him, along with the Ino-Shika-Cho to act as bodyguards for both him, and the elderly advisors. Finally, there was his sensei, Jiraiya, to check up on the seal that Ei put on Naruto and make sure that Kyubi didn't influence his son prematurely and Hyuga Hizashi to inspect the chakra coils. Along with some baby toys, Minato only wanted to make sure that his Naruto knew about his father, and look out for his son's best interest.

Three months later, Minato finally understood why Ei was so upset in the first place, as much of Konoha protested at the show of force Kumo had during _their_ visit to relieve Darui from his mission. The Yondaime Raikage himself came to Konoha, along with Bee, Nii, Shi, Jay (who will be replacing Darui), the tech whiz Tenga, his new secretary, and two other jounin. Ei even made an off-hand comment to Minato on how he would have even brought the Nidaime Raikage along if he weren't prevented from doing so due to the elder's frail health.

Lesson learned: Minato would have to tone his future visits down.

* * *

These semi-annual visits would soon be known in Konoha as 'The Hokage's Inspection of Kumo', and in Kumo as 'The Hokage Paying Tribute to Kumo' during its early years. Minato himself (along with two bodyguards, consisting of Kakashi, Jiraiya, or Hiruzen) would go on the October visits to spend two weeks with Naruto and celebrate his birthday. They usually brought gifts for the young hostage for this occasion, hence the reason why most of Kumo misconstrued this action as paying tribute.

However, as Hokage, Minato couldn't afford to be away from the Konoha for so often. Thus, the April visits were usually led by Jiraiya or Hiruzen, with two other jounin (oftentimes Kakashi) with them. These visits were usually more formal in the manner in which they were conducted, with the inspection of Naruto's seal and living environment, and interviewing the young jinchuriki.

Kumo, on their part, held their visits to Konoha on Janurary and July as part of the reciprocal treaty. Though there was no requirement for doing so, the Kumo delegates usually met with the Hokage to discuss relations between the two villages, before either giving the latest updates to the Kumo Liaison in Konoha (Kumo's term for their hostage), or every eighteen months, relieving him.

As a result of these frequent visits, tensions between the two villages largely died down by the fifth year. However, other that waiting for the twelfth year for the provisions in the treaty to end, there was one more lingering issue left unresolved from the night of Kyubi's attack.

* * *

"Otousan, look, it's the sea! Isn't the sea so cool, you know, Otousan?"

Minato couldn't help but smile as he watched his excitable little Naruto set his eyes on the ocean for the first time in his life. He was well aware that his son, having just turned six, hadn't had much of a chance to explore the world outside the walls of Kumo. He perfectly understood why Ei would be overprotective of his son—it wouldn't do a host village's reputation a favour if the hostage charged to them were to get hurt while venturing outside. And he'd heard Shi, Nii, and Bee complain of the rant the Yondaime Raikage gave them every time they managed to sneak Naruto out of the village walls (which, he had to admit, amused him to no end).

This was the joy in this life that he'd look forward to every year ever since the Kyubi's rampage. However, this visit was different from his past visits. It was agreed long ago that the Tekko Fuin that Ei put into Naruto was incompatible with the Kyubi, and was in real danger of breaking should it be put under great stress. In order to facilitate the changing of the seals, he had given Naruto and the Raikage the Uzumaki scrolls relating to the Shisho Fuin eighteen months ago. This pretty much earned him the wrath of Tsunade, who stormed her way back into Konoha to air her grievances on handing part of her inheritance over to Kumo, only to leave yet again in her vain effort to forget about the village.

Unlike their nearly-disastrous first visit, the Raikage permitted Minato to bring all the necessary personnel for the seal transfer, knowing well of the consequences should this procedure go horribly wrong. Along with his usual companions Jiraiya and Kakashi, Minato also brought the Ino-Shika-Cho for this A-ranked mission, along with another jounin named Tenzo. Ei himself is coming, along with Killer Bee, Nii, Shi, Darui, and even the Nidaime Raikage (who helped Naruto with the scrolls). There was simply too much at stake in this procedure, and every precaution, no matter how overblown, had to be taken.

"Kakashi-nii-chan! Look, it's a ship! The ship's sooo big, isn't it?"

"I swear, Naruto, you're starting to sound more and more like your mother," Kakashi sighed, annoyed at being addressed as 'nii-chan' once again.

Sure, at first, he was ecstatic about being a brother figure for…well, anyone. But he's all grown up now, so couldn't Naruto give him the respect he deserved?

"Kakashi-nii-chan, you knew my mom?" A curious Naruto asked.

"Why don't I tell you more about your mother, Naruto?" The Yondaime Hokage said, jumping into the conversation.

"Really, Otousan?"

"Naruto, why don't we board the ship first, then I'll tell you all about her."

"Hear that, Nii-obachan? Otousan's gonna tell me more about my mom!"

"STOP CALLING ME OBACHAN! I'm the same age as Hatake, for crying out loud!"

"But—OW!" Naruto tried to complain as he was given another welt on the head courtesy of Nii.

And so, as Yugito glared at Kakashi for not helping with her predicament, the combined entourage from Konoha and Kumo boarded the ship as they headed to the place where the seal transfer would occur.

* * *

"You have trained for a year and a half for this moment. Now is not the time to doubt your skills."

Naruto looked back at the Nidaime Raikage, the man mainly responsible for training him for this day, as he prepared himself for the procedure. They were in some sort of thick-walled chamber in some unchartered island about two days away from Unraikyo. Standing in the chamber with them were both Yondaime Kages, Killer Bee, Tenzo, Darui, Jiraiya, and Inoshi. Stationed outside the chamber were Nii, Shi, Shikaku, Chouza, and Kakashi—just in case the unthinkable happened.

"You can do this, Naruto," Minato reassured him. "All of us will be here to help you along the way."

"I know, Otousan," Naruto replied. "It's just I wish someone else can do this, you know?"

"Aside from Tsunade, you're the only one who can do this," Jiraiya added. "And considering that she wasn't suitable to be the Kyubi Jinchuriki, that leaves-"

"I know. It's all up to me."

"Naruto," as Bee called out to his Konoha counterpart, "it's time to start."

"Kid," Darui said, "good luck!"

Naruto gathered all his will and courage to step towards where Killer Bee was sitting. He then sat down in front of the Hachibi jinchuriki, and closed his fist. He took one last glance at the people around him, not wanting to disappoint nor hurt them. He closed his eyes, and bumped fists with Bee to finally get this procedure started.

* * *

The sewers. It was in this type of landscape that Naruto found himself in every time he did this exercise to try and see Kyubi. He looked around him, and saw the Hachibi form of Bee watching over behind him. Yes, he was indeed getting all the help he could get. Unfortunately, this was the best aid anyone could give with the procedure itself.

Naruto took several dozen steps forward, with the splishing and splashing of the waters resonating in his mindscape. His mind took a while to adjust to the dark and cramped conditions as he tried to find his furry companion—why can't his mind like Bee-ojisan, where everything's free and open?

Finally, there he was. In front of him stood a gigantic statuesque iron figure of a fox. As its very name suggested, Tekko Fuin, the Iron Armour seal, immobilized its prisoner by tightly fitting it with thick plates of iron and leaving it with absolutely no room to maneouvre. Almost everything was encased in this armour: the head, the limbs, the torso, all nine tails, everthing with one exception. At the armour's 'helmet' exists the only gap in this seal: A thin slit which allowed Naruto to see the demonic eyes glaring back at him.

"**So, you have the gall to come and see me again,"** the strongest of the bijuu growled. **"You even brought that pansy Hachibi with you."**

Little Naruto simply stared back at Kyubi. He wasn't afraid anymore. True, he was first filled with terror when he first saw the demon…anyone would. But with regular visits (terrifying at first), and a few exposures to Killer Bee's full Hachibi form in real life (which he admitted were fun), Naruto simply got used to seeing bijuu as they were. However, it wasn't the Kyubi itself that he feared—it was failure.

"Kyu-chan," Naruto started, intentionally annoying the Kyubi, "I came here to give you a bit more freedom."

"**Free me? Really?"** The Kyubi mocked**. "I know all about the Shisho Fuin you have in store for me. You'll just trade this cast for chains****!"**

"I…have something else in mind. It won't be like Mito-san and Mother."

A small podium rose from the sewer floor beside Naruto. On top of this podium was a simple button, with the symbol "Seal" engraved on it.

"**Do it, Naruto,"** Kyubi jeered. **"And once you free me, I shall rip your soul apart and slaughter all those around you****!"**

"**Even if you break free, you still have to deal with Hachibi and me." **Bee jibed, annoying Kyubi (and Naruto) even more.

During the following tense moments, Naruto, Bee, and Kyubi just stared at each other, anticipating what the other camp would do once this process was initiated. Naruto's hand hovered over the button as he watched Kyubi's eye twitch. Even though there were more people around in the physical world, it was now all down to the three of them:

Naruto, Hachibi, and Kyubi.

Naruto pushed the button.

The armour that had encased the Kyubi for the past six years immediately fell apart, with its iron plates crashing into the sewer floor. Naruto just stood still, seeing Kyubi no Yoko in its true form for the first time.

Seizing the opportunity, Kyubi sprung and lunged at Naruto, hoping to ensnare him and consume him for the suffering it was put through all this time. As Kyubi was about finish Naruto, a tentacle swiped Kyubi's face, repulsing the attack.

"**Naruto, run****!"**

"**That's right, you little coward, run****! You can't escape me!"**

Naruto began to retreat, as Kyubi sliced one of Hachibi's tentacles off and continued his pursuit. This was the most dangerous part of the process. With the Tekko Fuin gone, he had to quickly form the Shisho Fuin before Kyubi escapes.

Kyubi made another lunge at Naruto, stretching its paw out in an effort to ensnare him. Bee sent his remaining tails at Kyubi, hoping to buy Naruto enough time to execute his jutsu. As Kyubi quickly recovered from Bee's weakened attacks in this mindscape, Bee threw his torso at the Nine-Tailed demon in order to stall it. Kyubi countered by biting him in the neck (and giving him another good kick in the groin), causing what remains of Bee's chakra (inside Naruto) to deflate.

"**Naruto, it's **al**l up **to **yo**u now…" Bee said, as he faded away.

Naruto was running as fast as he could, as the separation between him and Kyubi diminished metre by metre. Naruto quickly executed several hand seals and took out several seal tags from his clothing, flinging them forward towards the floor, walls, and ceiling. Finally, he channeled chakra into the last tag remaining in his hand.

"Shisho Fuin!"

"**YOU'RE MINE, BRAT!"**

Thick iron bars dropped into the floor ten metres from where Naruto was. Kyubi, enraged that it had been sealed once again, burst out one final surge of chakra in an effort to catch its host.

Naruto tripped, falling down into the slick and slippery floors of his mindscape. He could only watch as Kyubi's warm breath surrounded him, the bijuu preparing to devour him.

Kyubi collided with the iron bar…violently. Naruto's forward momentum was just enough to slide him through the bars and into relative safety. Relieved, Naruto sat back as the Kyubi continued to rage on.

"**THIS ISN'T THE LAST YOU'LL SEE OF ME, NAMIKAZE NARUTO****!"**

"Of course not, we'll definitely meet again."

"**YOU WILL NOT TAKE FREAKING CONTROL OF ME LIKE THAT WEAKLING HACHIBI****! NEVER!"**

"We'll see about that. Enjoy your newfound freedom, Kyubi."

And with that, Naruto disappeared from his mindscape.

"**YOU RETURN HERE AT ONCE, NAMIKAZE NARUTO****! WE'RE NOT DONE YET! NOT BY A LONG SHOT!"**

* * *

"Sensei, how is he?"

Minato was really worried. Only five seconds have passed when Naruto suddenly fainted, fearing that the worst has happened. Killer Bee himself seemed to by trying to gesture something, unable to talk for some odd reason. Finally, with this failure in communication frustrating both parties, Bee made a big chomping motion using both his arms.

"Sensei, the Kyubi's loose! We must-"

"Minato, look!"

Jiraiya pointed to Naruto's belly, with a dark, spiral design slowly appearing. The two Konoha-nin were relieved upon seeing this, though Minato still had some reservations about the sealing.

"Are you sure it's stable?" Minato asked. "I mean, it can't be done that quickly…it hasn't even been a minute yet-"

Minato was interrupted when a notepad was rudely shoved into his face. Along with some pathetic attempts at poetry, the latest set of notes from Killer Bee told of the accounts that went on inside Naruto's mind until Bee's expulsion.

"You make it seem that you've spent half an hour there."

Bee took the notepad back, put his finger into his mouth to give it some ink, wrote something, and handed the pad back to the Hokage.

"So, you're saying that you _did_ spend half an hour there?"

"Hokage-sama," Inoshi interjected, "it's been known that the amount of time someone experiences in his mindscape can greatly differ from real time. It can be a lot longer, as was the case with Naruto, or can be short like people who woke up in a coma."

"I see," Minato muttered. "So sensei, will Naruto be alright."

"The brat will be fine," Jiraiya answered, smiling back at his student.

With the changing of the seals done, everyone in the island can finally relax.

* * *

**PS** Hope you enjoyed Chapter 3. Thank you for reading.

The scene below isn't really an _omake. _It's a scene I've written that I've decided to cut out of the main storyline in the end, since it pretty much ruined the pace that I had intended for this chapter (essensially dragging the story to a crawl). It also took the focus of the chapter away from Naruto.

I decided to post this anyways, since I already spent a good hour or two writing and polishing these scenes. You won't really miss anything big by not reading it, so don't worry to much about it.

* * *

Cut Scene: The Yondaime Raikage's Installation

The terraces and rooftops surrounding the Raikage's Office were filled with Kumo-nin of all age and ranks, from a five-year old pre-academy boy holding his mother's arm, to the elite jounin at the prime of their careers, and even a few retired elders finally getting their much-deserved rest after suviving the rigours of their chosen profession. All of them were waiting in joyful anticipation in this cloudy day for an event that would be a major highlight in the history of Kumogakure no Sato: The installation of the Yondaime Raikage, and the signing of the peace treaty with Konoha.

On the roof of the Raikage's Office, several of Kumo's top brass were seated facing the crowd on one side, while the Konoha delegation, led by the Namikaze Minato, were seated on the other. Ever since they've arrived, there were rumours spreading in Kumo that Ei had brought the Hokage back as prisoner, and Konoha would be made into Kumo's satellite. Minato knew well that it was all an exaggeration, though he and his companions were greatly annoyed that Kumo spent absolutely no effort in quelling the rumour.

On the other side of the same terrace, the family of the Nidaime Raikage were happily chatting as they waited for the ceremony to start.

"I still can't believe that Ei-sama was just named Raikage," said an excited Nii, the latest jinchuriki of Nibi no Bakeneko. "He and Bee-niichan must have really kicked Kyubi's ass and made Konoha bow down before them!"

"You wouldn't know half of it," Shi sighed, knowing well the true reason why Ei was now Raikage after talking to Darui.

"Hey, I wonder if I'll become Raikage someday. Ei-sama was Sandaime-sama's son, and I'm the Nidaime's granddaughter, right Shi?"

"Being related to the Raikage had nothing to do with this, Nii," Shi retorted. "Ei had to work hard and take initiative to get to where he is right now."

"So Ojii-san," as the fifteen-year old turned to her grandfather, the Nidaime, "do you think I can be Raikage someday?"

"Young people these days…they no longer appreciate the wisdom and advice of their elders…" the Nidaime mumbled, still disgruntled at what Ei pulled on him.

"What was that again, Ojii-san," Nii asked, unable to hear what the elder just said.

"Hmph. Nothing."

* * *

"There's something weird about those clouds, Hokage-sama."

Nara Shikaku made that comment as he continued gazing at the clouds hovering above, shrouding the peaks of the mountains and forming a ceiling above the village. Normally, he would simply indulge in this favourite pastime of his, but for some reason, there's something up there that he found…odd.

"Well, this is Kumogakure no Sato—the Village Hidden in the Clouds," Torifu responded. "There will be clouds in this village all the time, just like there will always be leaves surrounding Konoha."

"Torifu-sama," Minato interjected, "I think Shikaku-san has a point. It's as if…the clouds were being controlled by chakra."

Minato quickly looked at Kakashi, before continuing.

"Kakashi, be on guard—just in case someone in the village does something funny."

Before Kakashi could nod, the sky above them opened up, revealing the peak of the mountain on which the Raikage's Office hung from. At the peak itself stood two figures bathed in sunlight, with Bee standing a metre below the actual summit. Above Bee and dressed in the Kage Hat and full robes (though now bare-chested) stood the newly-minted Yondaime Raikage, Ei.

* * *

"Today is a great day for Kumo.

"Throughout history, our enemies have underestimated us, looked down on us, even ridiculed us. In their thirst for power, they fought each other, dragged us down with them, and even invaded us in their vain efforts to subdue us. Yet each time they attacked us, we repelled them. And every time we pay them back for their actions, they stood still helpless, unable to touch us.

"Our enemies lived their lives in a web of lies and deceit, in pre-scripted acts to dull everyone's senses. They sought to fool us, yet we see past the charade that they present before all. We know the truth behind their actions. And in the end, in their attempts to hide the truth, they end up blinding even themselves, unable to find a way out of the sticky web they've made for themselves.

"Suna, Iwa, and Konoha slaughtered each other in their hunger for power, yet hardly anything changed for them at the end of their war. Their leaders may be different and their economy in ruins, but their borders remain unchanged.

"And with the lies they've been feeding their own people, Konoha was caught unprepared for Kyubi's attack. And without our help, though we were enemies, they would be a pile of rubble right now.

"But the Kyubi attack on Konoha revealed a threat far greater than the greed of all the other villages, a conspiracy running deeper than all the lies that the other villages can come up with. Uchiha Madara lives—and he was after the Kyubi that Konoha had hidden all these years.

"Though many of you disagree with my actions in Konoha, we must work with them to eliminate this latest threat. If Madara is after Kyubi, we can assume that he wants Hachibi from our hero, Bee, and Nibi from the Nidaime's granddaughter, Nii. A threat to our jinchuriki is a threat to Kumo. Kumo may be strong now, but with their cooperation, a strong Konoha will only lead to a stronger Kumo.

"We will know what Uchiha Madara is up to. And with our neighbours' help, we will defeat Madara.

"I, Ei of the Yotsuki Clan, swear to fully serve the citizens of Kumogakure no Sato, protect the village and Kaminari no Kumi from all their enemies, and uphold my duties as Raikage.

"Today, Kumo has risen to become great. Under my leadership, Kumo will become greater!

"Long live Kumogakure no Sato!

A thunderclap punctuated the Yondaime Raikage's speech, followed by low rumbling resonating throughout the village. The crowd rose up and cheered, chanting slogans showing their approval and loyalty in honour of their new Kage.

Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, can only watch at the overly jingoistic display that the village has put on as the new era of Kumo's Primacy began.


	4. Kumo Days

Hey everyone! Sorry I wasn't able to update last week...got too busy. Unfortunately for me, all that effort didn't bear fruit.

Oh well, get ready for some terrific slice-of-life action! And if you're from Kyoto Animation or Pony Canyon, please don't sue me.

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

IV: Kumo Days

Naruto just sat there slumped forward, chin on the desk, as he listens to yet another boring lecture from the chunin instructor. Sure, it was a lesson in diplomacy, and the topic was quite relevant to him considering his position. But that didn't mean that he was immune to the hypnotic spell the instructor had over the rest of the class, with some of his classmates beginning to nod themselves to sleep as a result of the teacher's monotony.

It has been over a year since he entered Kumo Academy, along with thirty other children hoping to enter the village's shinobi ranks. At first, he was quite excited to go to school, looking forward to seeing kids his age from his old playmates, the twins Karui and Omoi, to meeting new people such as Samui, Ai, Kei and Echirou. However, despite being a minor celebrity in Kumo courtesy of being the son of the Yondaime Hokage (and staying in the 'House of Blonds' with the Nidaime Rakage), he couldn't help but feel that he was somewhat being left out.

Despite everyone's best intentions, every single person in Kumo were well aware that Naruto would never be a Kumo shinobi. Kumo prided itself in the teamwork its shinobi exhibits, and this was emphasized from the moment a student first steps foot in the Academy by being assigned immediately to a team. Knowing that he will eventually be returned to Konoha, Naruto was instead designated to become a floater, filling in for teams who have temporarily lost a member for the day. Sure, he got to know a lot of people and made good friends as a result of this, but that didn't erase the feeling Naruto had that he was out of the loop.

"For your next assignment, your team are in a situation where you must somewhat gain the trust of a foreign dignitary. Your mission is to write a letter to this dignitary, convincing, arguing, threatening, seducing…whatever it takes in writing for this person to work for Kumo. You must send this letter to this 'dignitary' within a week. Any questions?"

"Sensei," Naruto started as a matter of routine, "which team am I assigned to this time?"

"Hmm," the stoic instructor wondered, scanning the room to see who was missing. "Since everyone's here, I guess you can go with Samui, Omoi, and Karui this time, Namikaze."

Samui sighed upon hearing this, knowing that the other three people in her group had known each other for a long time, and they'd just end up playing games all week long and procrastinating at the end.

And so, after a few more words from the instructor, class was dismissed for yet another day. The students thanked the heavens that they only had to be stuck in the classroom for twice a week—the other three days were dedicated to the physical and practical aspects of being a shinobi in Kumogakure no Sato. Such was the life for Academy Students in this village.

* * *

"Are you sure this is necessary, Naruto?"

"Hey, we are going to be a team for the next month or so, at least until Ai-chan's leg heals."

Echirou and Kei looked at Naruto skeptically as the blond described his latest antics. Their regular teammate, Ai, was out of commission due to injuries inflicted by the Nidaime Raikage (as a result of her accidentally breaking the elder's favourite vase.) The two of them wondered how a piece of ordinary, crumpled-up paper can shatter a leg…by an old man who had trouble just walking around. They've gotta somehow learn this jutsu before the twice-retired kage croaks of old age.

Which brought them back to the loudmouth blond before them. This guy lived in the 'House of Blonds', and as much as he complained about the old man, they could tell that the two of them were close. Thus, in their rationale, to gain the Nidaime's favour, they've decided to put up with their temporary teammate's schemes no matter how silly or ridiculous it sounded.

"Just one last question," Echirou asked. "Why is your codename 'Kyu'?"

"Hey, Nii-obachan is _ni_ (two), Shi-ojisan is _shi_ (four), so I am _kyu_ (nine)."

"Whatever you say…"

"Alright guys, let's make a grand entrance, just like Killer Bee-ojisan."

"Fine, fine," Kei replied. "Let's just get this over with.

Looking at the closed door separating them from the classroom, the trio took one last breath before executing their plan.

In a sudden burst of strength, Naruto gave the door a violent kick, dramatically sending it flying to the other side of the room (and breaking a window). The entire class (or at least, those who were present early enough) stood up, alerted at a possible attack on them. Echiro then lit two fuses using a minor raiton jutsu, and threw both substances to the front of the room. The entire room was suddenly illuminated in blinding light, causing much disorientation to those in the room.

Once everyone regained their bearings, they were greeted by the sight of three academy students doing a ridiculous pose in front of the room.

"Oi, Naruto," Omoi inquired. "What the heck are you doing?"

"To protect Kumo from devestation!"

"To unite all nations with our domination!"

"To denounce all evils that run amok!"

"And take all people within our flock!"

Omoi, and the rest of his classmates, slapped their heads in disbelief as the trio recited this overdramatic and pathetic attempt that is their introduction. What competent ninja would give away their position and willingly throw away the element of surprise before a battle just to inflate their ego? Well, there's Killer Bee, but that's different.

And so, the class continued to watch as the people in front of the room make a mockery out of themselves.

"Surrender now, for you have no bite!"

"We're team Kitsune, so prepare to fight:"

"Kei!"

"Kyu!"

"Ecchi!"

Everyone looked quizzically at Echirou, one brow raised at the name he just gave himself.

"Pervert?"

"E-Echirou! I meant Echirou!"

The class erupted in a full-blown laugh, unable to stifle themselves at making fun of Echirou's mistake. Echirou himself can only hide his face in shame, while at the same time gave a glare at Naruto for coming up with such a stupid idea.

* * *

Dressed in black formal robes, Naruto slowly made his way to the seat reserved for him. Waiting for him in front of the seating arrangements were the people whom he had lived with ever since he was young, Nii and Shi.

Everyone in Kumogakure no Sato knew that this day was going to come sooner or later, though what really surprised most people was how late this day really came. The Nidaime Raikage was dead, and was afforded a luxury few ninja ever had the privilege of enjoying: To die peacefully in sleep due to old age. To anyone's knowledge, no other Kages have died outside of battle (or not murdered) before. Sure, the Nidaime Raikage's two periods of tenure have had their questionable moments, but for this day, the village has come to pay him homage and respect.

For Naruto, this was the first time in his life that someone close to him died. Sure, he technically wasn't family, but they sure functioned like one. His Ojiisan may have been a harsh disciplinarian, but he knew that deep down inside, the old man grew somewhat fond of him and cared for him. From lessons in diplomacy on how to address foreign dignitaries (which he completely ignored during his father's visits), to preparing him to change the seal keeping Kyubi in check, and ending up with his stories of Old Kumo during his final years, the old man was there to guide him every step of the way in the road of life.

Putting their late grandfather-figure's advice into practice, Naruto, Nii, and Shi put up a brave face as they stood during the ceremony. The Yondaime Raikage, Ei, solemnly walked to the side of the coffin as he began to address the crowd. Somewhat distracted, Naruto looked on as the priests made their preparations for the final rites of the funeral. Satisfied that the old man would be taken good care of, Naruto looked back at Ei as he continued the obituary.

"…before becoming Kage, he survived an attack from Konoha that claimed the life of his brother and the Shodaime Raikage. He fought valiantly during the war, contributing greatly to the defense of Kaminari no Kuni and rising as a great leader among the nations. During the conference that ended the First Shinobi War, he successfully negotiated the acquisition of Nibi and Hachibi for Kumo.

"He graciously stepped aside when one of Hachibi's attacks left him critically injured. He still made great contributions to Kumo during his first retirement though, counseling my father, the Sandaime Raikage, on how to manage the affairs of the village.

"Though having grown old and feeble, he took his mantle back upon the unexpected death of the Sandaime. During his second tenure, he trained many of us keep Kumo strong and dominant, ensuring that the future of this village will remain bright. With his experience and guidance, he led Kumo to victory during the Third Shinobi War.

"Once the war ended, he took a well-deserved rest and retired for good. However, even during retirement, he still worked for the good of Kumo, hosting our guest from Konoha and converting Konoha from a despised enemy, to a valuable ally. He ensured that Kumo was in good hands once he passed on.

"The Shining Light of Kumo had been a beacon of hope and greatness for all the years of his life. He has served as an inspiration for Kumo ninja both past and present. May the Nidaime Raikage rest in peace.

Once the Raikage finished, the priests walked in to begin the final rites of the funeral. Naruto, Shi, and a few of Kumo's elite jounin solemnly stepped forward, ready for their role to take the coffin containing the Nidaime Raikage to the funeral pyre.

* * *

"Oi, Ero-sennin, what the heck are we doing in the hot springs?"

Jiraiya's eyes twitched once more at what the nine-year-old brat called him. Damn that Minato! Ever since that student of his told the brat stories of his encounters with his mother, the kid won't stop calling him that. Sure, he just wanted to teach the kid a 'few things about life', and he was not at all ashamed at his status as a pervert, but there was really no need for the kid to call him that in public. Especially in Kumo.

"We're here to do some research, boy. Now why don't you stay quiet while I take some notes?"

"Then why bring me along?" Naruto complained. "You just want to put the blame on me if you get found out!"

"Don't worry kid," Jiraiya continued, not bothering to deny Naruto's accusations, "this is all part of shinobi training. Besides, stealth is an important component of being a ninja."

"We're already beyond stealth in Academy, Ero-sennin! That's it! I'm calling you out!"

Jiraiya promptly put his hands on Naruto's mouth, muffling any sort of words the blond was trying to scream. Naruto, not impressed with the pervert's plan, continued his struggles to get the (female) bathers' attention.

"Shhh…I'm only here in Kumo for a week, Naruto," Jiraiya said as he tried to soothe Naruto into quieting down. "And I promised your dad that I'd teach you something."

Naruto just glared back at him, unimpressed that the pervert just wanted an excuse to go peeping around.

"Alright, alright, kid, how about I teach you a jutsu."

Naruto's eyes narrowed further, still unimpressed.

"If you promise me you won't scream when I let go, I'll tell you what to do. And don't worry, this isn't a peeping jutsu—it's a technique that your father invented."

Naruto took a big gasp of air, his mouth freed from Jiraiya's tight clutches. After taking a few moments to collect himself, Naruto stood as he questioned Jiraiya.

"So, you're teaching me Hiraishin?"

"No, Naruto, that wasn't Minato's invention…well, he didn't invent it alone. The other one."

Out of nowhere, Jiraiya produced a water balloon and tossed it to Naruto.

"Alright, the first step: Pop this balloon."

Confused, Naruto promptly produced a pin, and did as Jiraiya told.

"No, no, no, no…you can't use a pin!"

The pervert tossed Naruto another water balloon, who then proceeded to squeeze the balloon with his hand to pop it.

"Not that either! I mean, if those were boobs, then yes. But not for this jutsu—you have to use chakra."

Once again, Naruto received another water balloon, popping it yet again, this time, utilizing an E-rank academy jutsu – Raiton: Spark.

"That's cheating! You used raiton!"

"You told me to pop the balloon! What the heck do you want me to do?"

Jiraiya sighed. It's gonna take a while for him to teach this jutsu.

* * *

Sitting cross-legged in his room, Naruto's brows furrowed as he analyzed the progress of his latest project.

Before him were a few seal tags, inscribed with delicate patterns of ink. That damn pervert wouldn't teach him the jutsu that he wanted, opting instead for some chakra-control exercise using water balloons. His father was of no help either, insisting that technique was specifically designed for him, and no one else. Instead, all he got for his birthday was (aside from sweets and cake) some scrolls containing Konoha Academy jutsu, and one describing some sort of leaf-balancing exercise (which he thought was useless considering he was already popping balloons in another chakra-control exercise.)

But he would get the last laugh at them! It seems that the Konoha-nin kinda forgot that part of the Uzumaki scroll collection was still with him in Kumo. Sure, he didn't have the entire collection (and it would greatly help if he did), but having studied with the late Nidaime Raikage, he was sure that he could piece things together and recreate the technique that the Yondaime Hokage was famous for.

Well, this was the moment of truth.

"Naruto! How many times do I have to tell you that dinner is ready?"

Naruto looked up to see the source of the voice that interrupted his train of thought.

"Ah, Yugito-obachan! Sorry I didn't hear you…"

"HOW MANY TIME DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT! CALL ME ONEE-CHAN, NOT OBACHAN!" The Nibi Jinchuriki yelled as she gave Naruto a karate-chop to the head.

"Oww…" Naruto complained as he tried to massage yet another welt on his head. "You didn't need to do that. Besides, I'm almost done recreating that jutsu."

"Sure, you are, Naruto," Nii commented sarcastically. "You really shouldn't waste your time trying to do something you can't accomplish yet."

"Take this!"

Naruto quickly took one of the seal tags and threw it towards Yugito. The Aunt-figure just stood still as the tag glowed upon activation and…fizzled up in smoke.

"One of these has got to work," Naruto said, as he took the rest of the tags and threw them all at Yugito.

Once again, the tags fizzled into nothingness upon activation.

"Once you're ready, go downstairs and eat your dinner."

Naruto clutched his head in frustration, suffering yet another setback in his project. One day, he'll figure out how it works. One day…

* * *

"Hey Omoi, I heard that they're trying something new for our final year in Academy."

Omoi sighed as Naruto wondered out loud what their last year in Academy had in store for them. In the years past, the Final-Year students would do fieldwork for four days of the week, while Friday mornings was simply spent in the classroom mainly for administrative purposes, before being dismissed for the rest of the day for the students to do their own things. But Raikage has decided to try something new this year, and they will be the guinea pigs! Instead of having Fridays virtually off, they would now have to spend the entire day in the classroom.

And what would happen if half the class failed the classwork? Kumo would have less ninja, which would lead to a weaker Kumo, which would lead to the fall of Kumo, which would lead to anarchy among the nations, which would lead to the end of the world—all too depressing. Omoi sighed, wondering why it had to be them.

"What, Karui-chan? We'll be in the classroom all day Friday this year?" Naruto complained. "Why the hell do we have to stay in the classroom? We've already learned all that's necessary the past few years!"

"I'm sure Raikage-sama has a good reason to do this," Samui commented.

"And I think it's stupid! Besides, which idiot gave Raikage such an idea anyways?"

"I believe that idiot would be me."

Everyone quieted down to turn to the source of the voice—a young, fair-skinned man with long, dark hair. It seems that he would be the classroom teacher.

"Tenga-nii-san? You're our teacher?" Echirou asked, unable to believe that his own brother would be teaching them.

"Yes, Echirou, I am indeed teaching you on Fridays. As for the stupid reason why we'll meet here weekly…" Tenga started as he took a quick glance at Naruto.

"This year, you will be learning about technology. More specifically, communication technologies."

"You mean like the Yamanaka Telepathy Jutsu?" A curious Naruto asked.

"No, not chakra-based techniques. I'm talking about technologies based on physical science. I'd bet only a few of you have any idea what I'm talking about. And I'm willing to say that no one except for Raikage, the daimyo of the major countries, and a few of our elite jounin know what I'll be taking about. This is why I'm teaching you."

"You mean like how we can play multiplayer games remotely on our game consoles between our house and Naruto's house?" Echirou commented excitedly as the thought of the possibilities of this course.

"Kind of," Tenga responded.

"Hmm, this doesn't seem to be a bad idea after all," Omoi commented.

"In addition to technology, you'll also be learning about tactics."

"But sensei, we've already learned about tactics," Karui complained.

"Oh, this is not theory in the classroom nor some whimpy low-grade tactics that you guys think of during fieldwork. This will be a real-time, simulated wargame scenario where you would pretend to be a leader of a village."

"You mean, kinda like _Shinobicraft_ in multiplayer?" Naruto asked, hoping that his hunch would be true.

"Naruto, what else do you think I'm taking about?" Tenga responded with a smile as he gave a wink at the Hokage's son.

As the boys of the class cheered and celebrated and gave each other high-fives in anticipation of the year ahead, Karui rose up to complain about this.

"What the hell, sensei? We're playing video games for class?"

* * *

"I congratulate all of you on graduating. You have all met or exceeded all that is expected of a Kumo ninja."

This was the day that all Academy Students have been looking forward to after years of training: Graduation. The various teams that make up this class have all studied together, toiled together, suffered together, kicked ass together, had their asses kicked together, laughed together—their primary training has been completed which formed them into well-oiled coherent teams. And for the first time in many years (for Kumo), every single person in this class of thirty-one managed to make it all the way through the end. This one final class was indeed a day of celebration, a perfect excuse for the graduates and parents to party all day long.

"As of this day, you are all genin-candidates. Your teams will be preserved as you progress through the ranks all the way to chunin, though your team leaders may change from time to time. Your team leader will be working with you as you familiarize yourselves in real-life situations. Once your team is deemed worthy, your team leader will recommend you for an enabling mission for advancement."

"Listen carefully, for I will not repeat myself. Here are the assignments for team leader…"

As the head teacher announced the team assignments, Omoi and Echirou looked at Naruto, who seemed to be resigned to his fate. For all this time in the Academy, Naruto was a floater, filling in for teams that were missing a person for the moment. However, the teams were now set in stone, and the Hokage's son was the odd man out.

"It must really suck to be you Naruto," Echirou commented. "You weren't assigned to any teams, so I wonder what's gonna happen to you."

"Well, I was expecting this would happen to begin with." Naruto replied. "Being the Hokage's son, I can't exactly be a Kumo ninja to begin with. Besides, I will be leaving for Konoha once I turn twelve."

"But what are you gonna do for the time being?" Omoi asked.

"Train I guess…"

"Eighteen months is a long time to train for nothing…"

Their ears perked up once the head teacher announced who was assigned to Echirou's team. Some person named Yuu. They then await the name of the person who would lead Omoi's team.

"Samui, Karui, and Omoi. Your team leader will be Killer Bee-sama."

"What? Really?"

The three people in Team Killer Bee can't believe who they just got as their leader. All the other people in the room also sat stunned that the Hero of Kumo would actually go out of his way and take students. Did the Raikage think that the three of them really had that much potential?

"However, your temporary team leader for the moment is Mabui…until Killer Bee-sama takes care of some outstanding business."

"Wait," Karui asked, confused about the weird arrangement, "you said Killer Bee-sama's our master, but we will be training with the Raikage's secretary for now. Why isn't he training us right away?"

"Umm," Naruto spoke up, "I think I know why."

* * *

"Naruto, I am guessing you know the reason why you are here in my office right now."

Naruto looked around, taking note of the people who was currently in the Raikage's office. There's of course the Raikage himself and his secretary, but the only other people in the vicinity were Killer Bee, and the captain of one of the ships in Kumo's Navy. He then turned back to the Raikage to give his response.

"Raikage-dono, I'm guessing that Killer Bee-ojisan will be training me."

"Well, that is true. Bee will indeed be training you before you leave for Konoha."

"I see."

"Naruto, tell me, do you know the reason why you are here in Kumo in the first place?"

"You and Otousan sent me here as part of the peace treaty to end the Third Shinobi War."

"Well, yes, that is what the final treaty says. But do you know _why_ that was in the treaty in the first place?"

"Kyubi attacked Konoha." Naruto said, knowing this part of the story all too well. "You and father worked together to seal Kyubi into me. As Konoha was weakened by the attack, it was decided that I be sent here for my own protection."

"That is indeed correct, Naruto. However, who are we protecting you from?"

"Huh?" Naruto muttered, confused at Ei's latest question. "I guess assassins from Suna or Iwa? Otousan probably made a lot of enemies out of them."

"Not quite. Has your father ever told you why Kyubi attacked, why your mother is dead, and why Kyubi was sealed into you?"

Then it all suddenly came together for Naruto. Five years was quite a long time for a child, and it's only now that he remembered this almost-forgotten fact. Sure, his father left out a few tidbits, but with the Raikage's line of questioning, he was able to put the pieces together. And there was one name that jumped out right in front of him.

"Uchiha Madara…"

"Ahh, so Hokage did tell you."

"B-but…" Naruto muttered, confused as to what happened the night of his birth, "I thought Otousan defeated Madara."

"Your father did defeat Madara," Ei stated. "However, he was not able to kill him. Don't you think for a moment that he let that rogue escape—there were too many things going on that night, and he had to make quick and hard decisions for his village."

"I-If Madara's stil alive, then h-he's probably still after me…or Kyubi."

"And that is why you are here in this room right now. We cannot extend our protection on you forever, Naruto, no matter how much we wish to do so. You will eventually be returned to Konoha, and you will be alone there without us being around."

Naruto once again looked around the room. More specifically, he looked at the Hachibi Jinchuriki, Killer Bee.

"For the remainder of your time here in Kumo, you will be training with Killer Bee. You will learn, at the very least, how to defend yourself the foes who are after you. Hopefully, you will also learn how to harness some of Kyubi's powers."

"Kumo's security and Konoha's security will depend on how well you progress over the next eighteen months," the Raikage continued. "As you've said, Madara will certainly be after you some time in the future. By the end of this training, you would hopefully be able to hold out on your own and defeat him."

"Don't worry, Naruto. I'll make sure you're ready when you go." Bee added.

Once more, Naruto looked at the two brothers, the heroes and leaders of Kumogakure no Sato. This was probably unprecedented moment in the history of the Elemental Nations: One village willing to train a shinobi of another village to his full potential knowing that person will eventually leave. And Naruto could feel that it's not just Kumo and Konoha's future at stake here—every single nation and village is in danger of this rogue Uchiha.

"Alright," Naruto responded with determination in his voice, "when do we get started?"

* * *

**PS** And that, my friends, is the fourth chapter. The funeral of the "Nidaime Raikage" wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, but the latest development in canon kinda forced my hand. Oh well...

And here's an omake for you:

* * *

Kumo no Hi! (曇の日!)

Naruto was walking back on his way home after a long exhausting day from practical training in the Academy. Well, he wasn't really coming directly from the Academy—he, Omoi, and a few other boys went to Echirou's place after school to play the latest game he acquired for his game console. After two hours of senseless fun pretending to be a pop music band and playing mock instruments, the friends decided to quit for the day and head home, before their parents (or guardians) suspect anything.

As Naruto neared his home, he wondered whether to go by the front door, or sneak in through the back. His guardian, the old man Nidaime, never really approved of Echirou hanging around his ward, insisting that all the boy was interested in was fun and games, just like that nerd Tenga. And he didn't really feel like talking to the old man about this today. On the other hand, the man was Raikage for a good number of years, so he wondered why he would even consider sneaking in the first place. And with the sensor-medic Shi-ojisan and fellow jinchuriki Nii-obachan living with him, they would more likely fry him to a crisp for doing it the ninja way just to teach him a lesson.

So front door it is! On a whim, Naruto decided to check the mailbox in the unlikely event that the post office dropped off a few letters in the household. Surprisingly, there was a single unstamped envelope…addressed to him. There weren't any signs that the post office ever handled the letter, and the envelope was too crisp to have come all the way from Konoha, meaning that someone in Kumo had personally dropped this letter off to him.

Curious on what the letter may contain, Naruto opened the envelope.

* * *

"Naruto, is something the matter?"

Echirou looked at Naruto with some concern, sensing that there was something off about his friend the past two days. At first, it seemed that Naruto was merely sleepy, just like the rest of the class during lecture day. But by the end of the day yesterday, Echirou observed that Naruto was not bored—he was daydreaming, or lost in thought.

"Oi, Naruto," Echirou repeated, "are you there?"

"Oh, sorry, Echirou," Naruto responded. "I didn't sleep well last night, you know."

"Whatever you say, Naruto," Echiro sighed. "You're assigned to our team today, so you better make sure that we kick ass today!"

"Don't worry, my friend, we'll kick ass today!" Naruto said, as he gave Echirou a wink and a thumbs-up in an effort to mask his internal turmoil.

And so, the two of them soon met with Ai and Kei to discuss strategy before the day commenced. As the four of them talked, Echirou noticed that Naruto was…uneasy with the girls?

* * *

"Omoi, do you know what's the matter with Naruto?"

"I don't know, Echirou. He's been like that for most of the week."

The two of them look at Naruto as the said person gazed out the window, watching the clouds of Kumo float by. Something was definitely wrong with their friend. Yesterday, he missed sixty per cent of the targets in the shuriken-throwing exercise when he'd normally hit nine times out of ten most days. And this morning, he just got his head whacked with a _shinai_ by Samui during their kenjutsu exercises, and the only excuse the normally excitable blond could come up with was he "wasn't paying attention."

"Do you think his guardian, Nidaime-sama, got to him after hanging out on Monday, Omoi?" Echirou wondered.

"I don't know, Echirou," Omoi responded. "He would normally rant and complain on how 'the old man' was too old-fashioned and can't get with the times whenever he gets scolded. Not be disturbed and quiet like this."

"That's it!" Echirou stood up, determined to know what's bothering Naruto. "I'm talking to Naruto right now-"

"Echirou-kun, you're coming with us!"

Echirou complained: "B-but Ai-chan, Kei-chan, I was just-"

"Naruto-kun's not part of our team today, so he doesn't need to know what we have planned for the rest of the day."

And so, as Echirou was dragged out of the classroom by his teammates, Omoi once again gave a look of concern to an absent-minded Naruto. As he approached his friend, he noticed something on the Hokage's son's hair.

"Naruto," Omoi asked, "is that hair gel in your hair?"

"Hair gel?" Naruto reacted, as if he was flustered. "It's…um…I mean…bird droppings! Yeah, bird droppings! Hear that girls, some bird just took a dump on my hair!"

And as the girls reacted and screamed in disgust at Naruto's proclamation, Omoi can only wonder if one of the girls did something to Naruto.

* * *

Wandering up and down the stairs of Kumo, Naruto once again read the letter he received on Tuesday, oblivious to the hustle and bustle that was taking place in Kumo's marketplace.

_"No matter how cold it is, I'm happy watching your white breath as you spring into a run. Your hairstyle really suits you, but I want to see how you look with your bangs down._

_I wonder what I should say. Is 'I love you' a good way to start? The fluttering clouds are like my dancing feelings, yet somehow, I'm happy."_

Naruto read the letter once again, as he has done over and over again for the good part of the week. Who wrote this? Who was his secret admirer? Did the girl like him only because he was the son of the Hokage? Or did she really admire him for who he was?

Naruto suddenly fell on the ground as he absentmindedly bumped into someone. Before he could say his apologies, the person before him spoke.

"Really, Naruto," Omoi said, "now you're bumping into people in public?"

"What's this?" Echirou asked, as he snatched the letter Naruto was reading.

"Hey!" Naruto protested. "Give that back!"

"So, is this what's been bothering you all week, Naruto?" Echiro said, smiling and waving the letter around in front of Naruto.

"It's none of your business!"

"It's been affecting our teamwork exercises. Of course it's our business, Naruto!" Omoi added.

"Don't…read…it…" Naruto weakly demanded, turning his face away from the two boys in shame as Echirou and Omoi read the letter.

After reading the contents of the letter, the two boys looked at a blushing Naruto with mixed sympathy, envy, and pity.

"Wow." Echirou muttered. "A love letter. Someone really has the hots for you, Naruto. No wonder you've been acting strangely in front of Ai-chan and Kei-chan."

"Shut up."

"I don't know, Naruto," Omoi said as he started pondering. "I have a nagging feeling that the words in that letter seemed…familiar. I don't know where I've heard those words before, but I feel that I've seen that letter before."

"A chain letter?" Naruto asked, unable to believe that this was merely a cruel prank on him.

"No, Naruto, I can't really remember where, but-"

"Omoi! Have you been hanging around with Echirou again? Mom was looking for you at home!" Karui shouted from across the market, interrupting the conversation among the three boys.

"Karui," Omoi complained, "can't you see we're in the middle of something important?"

"Yeah, yeah," as Karui dismissed Omoi's complaints, "Echirou's latest game can wait next week. Mom wants you now."

"But Karui…" Omoi whined as his twin sister dragged him by the collar to drag him back home.

"By the way, Naruto-kun," Karui said, "what do you think of the assignment that's due on Monday?"

"Assignment?" Naruto asked. "Oh crap! We forgot about that!"

"What do you mean _we_ forgot?" Karui questioned Naruto as she gave him a nasty stare. "Didn't I drop that 'Letter to the Dignitary' in your mailbox last Tuesday? Don't tell me you lost it…"

The three boys merely looked at each other. Mystery solved.

"KARUI-CHAN YOU IDIOT!" Naruto exclaimed, unable to believe all this was just a school assignment.

"What?" a confused Karui asked.

"Hohoho, sorry to eavesdrop, but I can't help but overhear your conversation."

"Sensei?" Karui said as she acknowledged their usual Monday lecturer. "Do you know what this is all about?"

"I'm glad to see that you're taking this assignment to the next level, Karui-chan." The normally stoic teacher commented with a grin on his face.

"Wh-What do you mean, sensei?"

"You are already applying what you learned in the classroom to situations in real life," the teacher continued. "You see, 'foreign dignitary'," pointing at Naruto, "and letter. And judging from his reaction, it's super-effective!"

"N-no…" Karui muttered, aghast at what their teacher was implying, "I-I didn't mean it that way!"

"T-Things are not like that between Karui-chan and I, r-right, Karui-chan?" Naruto added.

"Ah, youth," as the teacher produced a fake sigh, poking fun at the two students before him, "you'll be glad to know that you don't have to hand your assignment in on Monday. A-Plus!"

The teacher then finished as he gave a thumbs-up to the academy students in approval.

"SENSEI!"


	5. Going Back to Konoha

Wow, I can't believe I went Tainaka Ritsu today, ordering an extra-large beef bowl and (unlike Ricchan) actually finishing it off. Unemployment really sucks.

Back to the story, I would like to say I feel honoured being included in the C2 'WHY We Hate Yaoi'. It's one of the best compilations of C2's out there, so if you've been living under a rock the past few years, check it out. And and advanced thank you to the 500 readers following this story.

Anyways, here's the fifth chapter.

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

V: Going (Back) to Konoha

For twelve long years, Namikaze Minato has been looking forward to this. Sure, every year, he was able to see and spend time with his son to celebrate his birthday. And those moments were indeed filled with cherished memories. Yet all those years were spent in Kumogakure no Sato, far away from his…their home in Konoha. In some years, it pained him having to choose between doing his duties as Hokage and fulfilling his role as father to Naruto. He was somewhat thankful that the Third Hokage was willing to fill in whenever he was away, though he questioned Hiruzen's current ability to rule when a certain incident happened four or five years ago.

But beginning this year, he could put all those years of doubt behind him. No more missing out on events, whether they happened in Konoha, or his son in Kumo. This time, Minato is coming to take Naruto home.

* * *

Having spent a good part of the past two days on a ship, the foursome didn't mind walking the last few kilometres as they approached Kumo with great anticipation. For Darui, it was the end of his tour of duty as the Liaison to Konoha, and he was looking forward to coming back home after eighteen months. For Minato, he will be able to see his son again, and this time, the Namikazes would not be parted from each other after the visit. Along with Jiraiya and Kakashi, the Konoha-nin were eager to see Naruto's progress over the past year, and finally get to show him his permanent home.

As they casually strolled up the road leading to Kumo, they saw four figures awaiting them at the gates. They were expected, and rightfully so—this was indeed an important event for both Kumo and Konoha. Standing proud and tall in with his gold-coloured Kage hat and robes (minus the shirt) is the gigantic Ei, the Yondaime Raikage. Flanked on his sides were the two Jinchuriki of Kumo, Killer Bee on his right side and Nii Yugito to his left. And in front of him was the young Konoha Jinchuriki that he and the rest of Kumo have worked hard to raise and train.

"Otousan!"

Naruto ran down the path to meet with the Konoha party, glad to see his father again after a year of being away from each other. He jumped into his father's arms without much of a thought, nearly knocking the Hokage down on the ground.

"My, my, Naruto," Minato replied as he ruffled his son's hair in response, "you've grown a lot over the past year."

"Really, otousan? Ha! Wait 'till Karui-chan, Omoi, and Echirou hears this! They think that I'm a shrimp…they'll see who get's the last laugh!"

"Well Naruto, you are a little short for someone your age." Kakashi commented.

"You're a meanie, you know, Kakashi-nii-chan?" Naruto said, pouting at Kakashi's comment.

"Don't worry, Naruto. Your father was also short when he was your age." Jiraiya added, earning him a glare from Minato. "I'm sure you'll grow up to be as great and awesome as your old man."

"Really, Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked, causing the perverted toad sage to cringe upon hearing that moniker for him yet again.

As the four people from Konoha continue catching up to what they've been up to for the past year, Ei stood at the gates looking on, feeling somewhat bittersweet about the whole thing. For all intensive purposes, the peace treaty that he crafted with Konoha twelve years ago was a huge success. Not only have they put an end to years of fighting, but they have also turned a dangerous enemy into a valuable ally. Yet he can't deny that he had grown fond of Naruto over the past years. He has spent many times checking up on Naruto's progress and well-being, and the kid has become like a nephew to him. He could now somewhat sympathize to how Minato felt twelve years ago—guess you reap what you sow. Oh well, life goes on.

"Raikage. Darui reporting back."

Ei looked back at his (normally) right-hand man, having returned back from his duty. The Raikage acknowledged him with a nod, before turning to Bee to talk to him.

"Bee, why don't you give our guests from Konoha a warm Kumo Welcome?"

And so, Bee complied.

"ALRIGHT, KONOHA-NIN! HOW HAVE ALL OF YOU GUYS BEEN? PLEASE ACCEPT OUR COURTESY, SO SIT BACK AND BE LAZY! COME ON IN AND HAVE SOME TEA, AND AFTERWARDS WE ALL PARTY! OOOHHH YEAH!"

"Enough with your rapping, Bee." The Raikage sighed, as he gave Bee yet another whack in the head.

"But Bro, you said…"

As the delegation from Konoha heard Bee's (ear-scratching) invitation, the party made their way towards the village for Naruto's final days in Kumo.

* * *

"Happy Birthday Naruto‼"

This year, just like in any other year for the past twelve years, yet another party took place in the 'House of Blonds' to celebrate Naruto's birthday. However, unlike many years past, there were many more guests invited for this year's party, for this party also doubled as Naruto's Farewell party from Kumo. Aside from the annual visitors such as the Hokage, his delegation, and a few of Naruto's friends, there were also other people present such as the Raikage and his secretary, a few of Kumo's jounin, and several of Naruto's classmates from Kumo Academy.

"Cool! My very own sword!"

"Naruto, it's just a standard-issue sword," Omoi commented. "There's nothing really special about it…or any other sword in this village for that matter."

"Well at least it's _my_ sword." Naruto countered. "That means that I don't have to borrow one from the armoury anymore."

"I'm glad that you like our gift," the Raikage said. "Consider this a token of our friendship to you and to Konoha."

"Thank you, Raikage-dono."

Naruto slung his latest gift across his waist and shoulder, having the sword rest at his back, just like how the majority of Kumo ninja wore their swords. He looked at the gifts that he had received so far: the latest video game console from Echirou and Tenga (complete with five games), some trinkets from the twins, sweets from a lot of his Academy classmates, a guitar from Nii and Shi, more useless trinkets from a few elders, and a yellow shirt with the kanji for 'Kumo' printed in front from Mabui. A small smile crept up his face clanking at the gifts. Sure, most of these gifts were practically useless (except for the sweets), but it was pretty evident how his friends in Kumo will miss the Hokage's son once he was gone.

"Hey Naruto, open mine next! Open mine!"

Naruto gave Jiraiya a piercing glare as he set his eyes on the pervert's latest present for him. Three soft, flat, square packages, all wrapped in paper—clothes of some sort. That Ero-Sennin better not be thinking of humiliating him right in front of his friends!

"This better not be one of those women's clothing you stole from a bathhouse."

"Oh, no, no, no, no …not this time." Jiraiya said, earning him glares from the females for the last two words that came out of his mouth. "Go ahead, open it!"

Reluctantly, Naruto opened the three packages to see what's inside. Well, well, Jiraiya actually had the decency of not giving him women's clothing, lingerie, or smut this time. The gifts were indeed clothes, though it somewhat irked the celebrant that the pervert was trying to mould the young lad after himself. The top was a plain, dark, earth-toned yellow kimono, which was complemented with a dark-purple traditional hakama. A traditional-style drab, orange-brown overcoat completed the outfit. Not too bad for the son of the Yondaime Hokage.

"So, you're trying to make me into a miniature version of the Ero-sennin?" Naruto complained, his right eye twitching at Jiraiya's latest antics.

"Hey, look at you," Jiraiya said as he started his rant. "Your current clothes may be fine and dandy for a ninja, but you look way too much like a Kumo-nin. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with what they're wearing, but you're going to be a ninja of Konoha soon, and you don't want to be misidentified as a ninja of another village—especially as the son of the Hokage."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto replied in a dismissing tone, "but I have to wear…this?"

"Look, Naruto," Minato said. "Sensei may be a pervert, but there's nothing wrong with those clothes."

"C'mon Naruto," Jiraiya continued. "Go ahead, wear them."

Suddenly, the girls gave each other a scheming look as they've thought of something fun to do.

"Oh Hokageee…" Ai said in a teasing tone. "Can we help Naruto-kun put his clothes on?"

"What‼"

"Yeah," Karui continued, "I'm sure that Naruto-kun will need _all_ the help that he needs."

"No freaking way! I can dress myself just fine!"

"Hmm, I see no harm in this," Minato commented. "Those clothes are a bit of a pain to put on when you first wear them."

"Go ahead, knock yourselves out." Jiraiya said jovially as he enthusiastically shoved Naruto into the arms of the rabid girls.

"What the freaking hell! You're feeding me to the vultures! Otousan! Kakashi-nii-chan! Save me‼"

Unfortunately for Naruto, the people whom he called out for paid him no heed as he was dragged to his room for a little game of dress-up. Both Jiraiya and Killer Bee whipped out their respective notebooks as they frantically scribbled their accounts of what just happened.

"And even though the boy shows gloom, his charm shall definitely bloom." Bee jived, providing a final commentary on Naruto's predicament.

* * *

"Raikage-dono! Are you freaking out of your mind‼"

Ei sighed, as he put his hand on his forehead in an attempt to relieve his impending headache. During the party yesterday, the Hokage asked him to comment on what Naruto was capable of. Deciding that a proper demonstration was better than any words that he would have uttered, he arranged a friendly spar between Naruto and Killer Bee here in Unraikyo to address Namikaze's inquiries.

Yet the latest source of his headaches wasn't the Hokage's incessant whining. It was the two combatants before them, both deciding to go all-out and beefed up in full bijuu mode. And it seemed that the fight had degenerated into an epic wrestling match between the giants.

"Hokage, believe me, I've forbidden them to transform anywhere near Kumo. But noooo, time and time again, they just do that…they just won't listen."

Minato grinded his teeth as he bore witness to the awesome powers before him. This scene pretty much reminded him of the Kyubi's attack twelve years ago. Just remove the mountains, add a few trees here and there, and inject some malicious killing intent from Kyubi, and presto! You have an instant replay of the events of twelve years past.

"At least you only have your son to deal with," the Raikage commented. "I have two jinchuriki to take care of. Better get used to it."

"B-but what if he loses control…"

"He won't. We've already made sure of that."

"Th-this is insane…"

"At least he's as prepared for the threats as he could possibly be right now. Who knows, Namikaze, maybe he'll even exact vengeance for his mother's death someday."

That's right. Minato reminded himself why they were here in the first place. He berated himself for having lost sight of the future threats against his son…against Konoha…against the world. Now that the thought of this threat was back in his mind, he wondered whether that incident a few years ago was somehow connected to this. If it was, then his problems just got a whole lot bigger.

BAM‼

Minato was jolted out of his thoughts as he surveyed the latest damage done by the jinchuriki. Apparently, a huge boulder missed them by about a dozen metres.

"Bee! Watch where you're throwing stuff around!" The Raikage yelled as he chided his younger brother.

"**Sorry, bro. It slipped my tentacle. Don't you worry; we'll show you our pinnacle****!****"** Bee replied sheepishly.

The two combatants were still stuck in a stalemate in their wrestling match. The Hachibi-figure had his tentacles curled up around the Kyubi-figure's neck, legs and a few of its tails, while using its one free arm to reach back and pound the fox-figure's face. Naruto, on the other hand, had his teeth deeply embedded behind the Hachibi-figure's neck, immobilizing his neck and stopping any attempt to gore him with its horns. Both figures' torsos were bent and contorted in such a way that many people could never imagine. It was quite and ugly…and comedic sight to see.

One of Naruto's rear legs suddenly slipped the grip of the Bee's tentacles, setting it free to do damage in its limited range of motion. Responding to a little voice inside his head, Naruto did the only thing he could do with that leg, and promptly gave the Hachibi-figure yet another good kick in the groin.

"**AAARRRGGGHHH****‼ ****KYUBI, WHAT THE HELL IS WITH YOU AND FAMILY JEWELS****‼ NARUTO, NEVER LISTEN TO YOUR DEMON WHILE WE DUEL!"**

"**Aww, but it seemed like the best thing to do at the time."**

Minato put his hand on his head, hiding his face in shame. That was a low blow, a dirty play, dirty even by Kumo's standards. Hopefully, he could teach his son the meaning of restraint once they finally return to Konoha.

"Alright, that's enough," Ei ordered, as he tried to (futilely) break the fight up.

"**It's not over yet, Kyubi****!"**

"**Bring it on, Hachibi!"**

As the two giants continued the fight, gnawing and bashing each other, the Raikage leaped out of his perch to approach the fighters. With his two muscular arms held high above his head, Ei activated his Raiton Armour as he swung those hefty arms down on the Hachibi-figure's head, causing the Kyubi-figure to release its grip on Bee's neck and sending the head crashing down onto the valley floor.

"**Hey bro, why just me?"**

"Cease," the Raikage demanded. "Now."

And so, after much complaining and mumbling from Bee, the two jinchuriki complied and immediately transformed back into their human selves. Naruto, feeling proud of how he fared in the fight, jumped towards where the Hokage was standing to ask him what he thought of the fight.

"Ne, ne, otousan, I did well with the fight with Bee-ojisan, didn't I?"

"Son, I think we need to have a nice long talk once we get back to Konoha."

"Huh?" Naruto responded, unable to comprehend his father's reaction.

* * *

"Good luck, Naruto!"

"Take good care of yourself, Naruto!"

"Pay us a visit someday!"

With his pack of belongings slung on his back (and the rest carried by Minato, Jiraiya, and Kakashi) and wearing his new clothes, Naruto turned back as he takes one last look at the villagers wishing him farewell at the gates of Kumo. His friends—Omoi, Karui, Samui, Echirou, Ai, Kei…and many more, they've all shared many good times and trials together. His mentors, Nii, Shi, Bee, the Raikage and many teachers, they taught him the meaning of being a shinobi and prepared him of the challenges that he will face in the future. He will indeed miss Kumo, and the village will always have a special place in his heart. But this was not the time for tears and waterworks—that already happened over the course of the past few days. Today, he will leave on a positive note, looking ahead to what's to come.

As he was about to say one final goodbye, a Kumo-nin separated himself from the crowd and calmly walked toward him. It was Darui, one of the Raikage's most trusted men who was frequently sent to Konoha in their end of the treaty from twelve years ago. Smiling, he have Naruto a quick wave as he spoke.

"Yo, Naruto! Sorry I didn't give you anything during the party, but I did leave you a gift back in Konoha."

Minato's raised his brow, curious as to what the former Kumo hostage had to give to Naruto. Or for that matter, wher-

"Listen carefully, Naruto, for I don't want you missing out on my present," Darui continued. "Go to the former Kumo Office, third floor, West Room. To the left of the televisions, there is a desk. Your gift's in the middle-left drawer."

"Oh, and I thought you forgot all about my birthday," Naruto replied, excited to see what Darui gave him that (the boy thought) he couldn't bring back to Kumo. A monster machine? No, that can't fit in a drawer. But whatever it was, he wanted to see it soon.

"Hokage, Jiraiya, Hatake, did you hear that?" Darui said, catching the attention of the rest of the Konoha delegation. "Make sure you remember that…in case Naruto forgets."

"What do you mean I'm forgetful?" Naruto retorted. "You're the one who's dull here!"

Darui paid Naruto no heed as he coolly turned to walk back to the village gate, giving the boy one last wave.

"Ja, Naruto. Enjoy your gift."

As Darui drifted back into the crowd, Naruto gave Kumo one final look. The place of his childhood, the village in which he grew up. As he watched the village cheer him on, he felt a warm, gentle hand placed on his shoulder.

"Well son, I guess be better go now."

Having been interrupted the last time, Naruto waved both of his hands as he gave Kumo one last goodbye.

"_Arigatou, minna!_ _Sayonara!_"

And so, the Konoha delegation turned as they started their journey back home.

Standing on top of the gate, Ei watched the receding form of the foursome as they strolled farther and farther away from Kumo, eventually disappearing behind a mountain along a curve on the road. Darui soon joined him, as they both reminisce of the years Naruto spent in Kumo.

"Well, Ei. I hope you enjoy my gift to Naruto."

"Hmm…_me_? You meant Naruto, right? I hope you're not getting way too dull for yourself, Darui."

"Oh, I'm sure Naruto will enjoy his gift…and I'm sure _you_'ll like it too."

* * *

"Otousan, where are we going? This is not the way to Unraikyo."

Naruto noticed that they were going further and further away from Kumo's port, which was pretty strange in his opinion. Ever since he could remember, he went to Unraikyo yearly to either greet his father from his journey, or see his father off on his way back to Konoha. What on earth is different this time? Sure, the Kyubi Jinchuriki was a very important person, but the Hokage himself was more important, so it wouldn't really warrant having them taking a different path this time.

"Well, Naruto, you've been cooped up in Kumo all this time." Jiraiya answered on behalf of his student. "I suggested that since we're already here, why not see the world on our way back?"

"The world?" Naruto questioned. "The only places on the way are Shimo no Kuni (Land of Frost) and Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Springs)."

"Son, now is as good a time as any to get to know what it's like outside Kumo or Konoha." Minato responded. "Besides, this won't be a total waste of time. We will be meeting the daimyo of both countries. Consider this your first…or perhaps in your case, your second diplomatic mission."

"Hmm…two diplomatic missions under your belt before you even become an official ninja." Kakashi commented. "Not too bad, Naruto-kun."

Naruto pouted, as he reluctantly accepted his father's reasons. The opportunity was there, so he really couldn't see a reason why Konoha wouldn't take advantage of the situation. He knew from his Academy lessons and experience in real-life how important these missions were. He has been in a few of those boring meetings between the Raikage and Sandaime Hokage in the past (in all its formality), and he hoped that the meetings with the daimyo will be more…well, substantial.

"So, otousan, what will we talking about with the daimyo?"

"It's already understood that both countries are under the joint protection of Konoha and Kumo, so there's really nothing much to talk about. It's mainly mainaing relations between the countries, just like what Sandaime-sama has been doing with Kumo."

Naruto groaned at what Minato just said, not looking forward to the prospect of sitting through another one of those stuffy meetings.

"Don't you worry, kiddo." Jiraiya said. "It won't be all bad. I heard that Yuu no Kuni is especially beautiful this time of year." He then finished of with a lecherous snicker and grin while twitching his fingers in…well, you know.

The father and son frowned at Jiraiya's antics, while Kakashi just silently played along with Jiraiya. They're pretty sure that the pervert wished to see the country in its 'full, naked beauty.' It wouldn't do Konoha's reputation any good if the Gama-sennin were to get caught peeping in the hot springs.

Suddenly, Minato thought of a…well not quite a solution, but something so he can deal with the impending problem.

"Son," Minato began, "you remember what I told you about playing dirty."

"Otousan, I swear, I won't ever do it…against a Konoha-nin," Naruto exclaimed, as he mumbled the last part of his 'oath'.

"Well, son, I'm willing to make an exception to that just this once." Minato finished of with a smile that shook Jiraiya's soul to its very core.

The son also smiled, finally having the chance to break the monotony of this part of the journey.

"Alright, Ero-sennin, time for you to meet Kyubi's special technique against Hachibi!"

And so, the young twelve-year old chased the Toad Sage the rest of their way to Shimo no Kuni.

* * *

Hi no Kuni – The Land of Fire. Though it was the second-smallest country in terms of its total area, its central location and varied geography have made it an economic powerhouse and, until recently, possessed the most powerful of all militaries. At the crossroads of many trade routes, the land flourished with merchants establishing stores and craftsmen building shops in about a dozen of its cities. The country also raised a strong military, mainly invested on Konohagakure no Sato, to repel any attacks from its enemies from its numerous neighbours.

Yes, Hi no Kuni does indeed get very hot during the summer as its name suggested. Yet this was now fall during the first day of November, and with the chill starting to permeate the air, the leaves of the forests that blanket the Land of Fire have started to turn shades of red and yellow—at least, along the country's northern portions. And Naruto, having stepped foot in the land of his birth for the very first time, was in great awe of the wonderful majesty of the assorted colours that the trees have put on.

"Wow, I didn't know that Hi no Kuni would be this beautiful."

"Son, this is the land that you…we will be protecting." Minato stated proudly with his chest puffed out. "You will get to know many of its people here and in Konoha, and I'm sure you will enjoy the company of the people here."

"Look, look, Kakashi-nii-chan, a red maple leaf! We didn't have anything close to his in Kumo, you know, Kakashi-nii-chan."

Kakashi cringed once again at how he was addressed by his sensei's son. 'Nii-chan'…why couldn't he be called 'ojisan', or just plain 'Kakashi-san'? Even though Naruto possessed many of the skills needed to be a deadly ninja, he still had a childish mind…just like his mother. Though, having only turned twelve a few weeks ago, Kakashi guessed that it shouldn't be unusual for any boy his age to act that way. The thought somewhat sparked a hint of envy and regret with the young, masked man, having to spend much of his childhood fighting a war as an orphan and sticking to the strict rules. Maybe the boy deserved to live a charmed life for as long as it lasted, considering the burden that he was carrying.

"Kakashi-nii-chan…BOO!"

A furry, fox head, complete with muzzle, fangs, whiskers, eyes with slit irides, and ears was staring back at him.

"AAARRRGGGHHH‼ KYUBI‼"

Kakashi's alertness (or lack thereof) quickly turned into embarrassment and irritation as he watched the Fox Head that was staring at him quickly morph back into Naruto's face, with its blond hair, blue eyes, and its whisker birthmarks.

"Hahahahaha!" Naruto laughed at the great expense of Kakashi. "Man, you should have seen the look on your face, Kakashi-nii-chan. That ought to teach you to pay attention." He continued, as the two other men with them joined the fun.

Alright, so maybe Naruto should stop acting like a child and be taught a few lessons in professionalism. Kakashi quickly removed the forehead protector covering his left eye, and with Sharingan blazing, gave Naruto a particularly nasty glare.

"Never, ever do that again!" Kakashi growled in a low, threatening voice.

"C'mon, Kakashi-kun," Jiraiya interjected as he tried to stifle his laughter, "give the kid a break. No harm done, right?"

"Yeah, Kakashi-nii-chan," Naruto added, dismissing Kakashi's threat. "It's harder for me to do this than to go all out nine tails in full bijuu mode, you know. I need more control to do this."

And so, Naruto, Jiraiya, and Minato continued to poke fun at Kakashi as the leaves of the trees lining the path gradually turned green while walking the way to Konoha.

* * *

"So, this is Konoha…"

This was it. His new home for what would (hopefully) be the rest of his life. Naruto's eyes scanned the landscape, breathing deeply and taking everything in on the first impression of the village, from the shops and businesses setting up to open in the early hours of the morning, to the buildings dominating the plains of Konohagakure no Sato. Interrupting the flat landscape was a rocky hill with multiple peaks not unlike the ones found in Kaminari no Kuni, though this particular hill had four faces carved on it. He recognized the two faces carved on the right, that of his father and the one of a younger Sandaime Hokage, so he presumed that the other two faces were images of the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage.

Naruto turned to look at his father and his two other companions, waiting if they have something to comment on before putting this journey to a close. Minato gave Naruto a friendly smile, as he presented the village to his son.

"Naruto, welcome home."

Naruto smiled back. This was indeed home. Hopefully, he would meet some awesome people and make many friends here. He got along with people of Kumo just fine, so he hoped that Konoha would be just the same.

Speaking of Kumo, this reminded him of something.

"Otousan, can you show me the way to the Kumo Office?"

* * *

Minato frowned at what he saw upon entering this room in the former Kumo Office. Yes, Darui-san said that there would be some televisions in this room. But it was more than just a few televisions. There were wires, antennae, microphones, cameras (both for still photos, and videos), tapes, radio, keyboards…all sorts of electronic stuff. It didn't help his composure when he saw the words 'KUMO BROADCAST CENTRE' proudly written all over the stacked-up televisions.

And what really irked him was that the Kumo-nin didn't really make any serious attempts to hide this. Minato should have probably accepted one of their numerous invitations over the years to take a tour of the former Kumo Office.

"Hey, Kakashi-nii-chan, Darui said middle drawer on the left side, right. Or was it the right side?"

"I'm pretty sure he said the left side."

And so, Naruto went to the aforementioned desked, and opened the middle drawer on the left side. So booby traps so far…good. The other three watched over the young boy's shoulder as Naruto looked at the belated gift that Darui had for him. It was a thick book of about four to five hundred pages, bound in a yellow hard cover. Naruto took the book and read its title.

_A Kumo-Nin's Guide to Konoha_

Naruto immediately ruffled its pages open as he excitedly browsed the book, curious to what it may contain. Soon, Minato, Jiraiya, and Kakashi stood aghast and shocked as their eyes caught a few of the illustrations printed in the book. Maps…maps of all sorts—tourist maps, street maps, maps to various food vendors, maps of the sewers, maps to the armoury, maps of the various secret bases, maps of the Hokage Office…you name it, the book had it. And that's not all. The prose, making up the bulk of the book, had more—from recommendations on the best _takoyaki_ in town, to the deepest and darkest of all S-Ranked secrets of Konoha. And that was what they saw in the thirty seconds it took for Naruto to flip through the book.

Who knows what else that damned book contained? As Minato tried to hold off a headache figuring out what to with Kumo's gift to Naruto, Naruto had one word to say about the book.

"Cool!"


	6. A New Home in Konoha

Hey hey‼ Another week, another chapter. And after a five-chapter prologue, we're finally at the main story in Konoha.

Enjoy!

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

VI: A New Home in Konoha

Haruno Sakura took yet another good look at herself in front of the mirror inside her room as she finished brushing her long pink hair. Clothes prim and proper—check. Hair neatly tied back with her red ribbon—check. No signs of zits or blemishes on her face—check. Her only real concern right now was that large forehead of hers, but hopefully that shouldn't matter in the end. As a stream of warm sunlight filtered through the curtains at the window behind her, Sakura was pretty much upbeat that today, just like any day during these past two years, she would win Sasuke-kun's affections and be his girlfriend.

That ought to show Ino-buta who was better of them! Sure, she was trying to catch up with the blondie for pretty much their entire time in the Academy: The Yamanaka pretty much held an advantage over her to begin with in all areas, hailing from a well-established shinobi clan. But Sakura felt that she has caught up to her rival, at least academic-wise, outscoring her in the written tests for the past two months. And soon, she would overtake her in the realm of romance by winning Sasuke's love.

"Sakura-chan! Breakfast is ready!"

"Mom!" Sakura responded. "Don't you know I'm on a diet right now?"

Her mom wouldn't understand; all her effort would be futile if she even let one pound slip over her. In the game of love, you had to be on your toes all the time, especially against someone as sly as Ino. One false move, and that pig would be all over Sasuke-kun in no time!

Sakura took one last look at the mirror. Satisfied with the way she appeared right now, she took her pack with her school stuff in it, and made her way downstairs as she set off for school.

"Sakura-chan! You almost forgot your lunch!"

"Alright, mom!" Sakura said with a slight hint of irritation in her voice, as she took the _bento_ her mom made for her. "I'm almost late for school today."

"Sakura-chan, you're still fifteen minutes early…"

"Bye, mom. See you this afternoon."

Leaving through the front doors, Sakura decided to go for a light jog this morning, hopefully getting to school first before anyone else did. Who knows? Maybe she can have Sasuke-kun for herself before Ino-buta arrives today!

* * *

"Ino-buta! Who on earth said you could sit next to Sasuke-kun?"

"No one," the blonde Yamanaka chirped back. "I got here first, forehead, and there's nothing that you can do about it. Remember, the early bird gets the worm!"

Sasuke sounded a low growl as he had to endure yet another round of bickering between the two girls. Correction…_all_ the girls. Apparently, they've now all joined in the mad dash for ultimate love that is Sasuke. He doesn't get it; what is it with girls and romance? To top that off, why on earth would he settle on being with one of those weaklings? Love, love, love…was that all they cared about? If they concentrated on being a ninja more than wasting their time on this, then perhaps he would consider one of them. He acknowledged that even the Yamanaka may surpass him had she invested more of her time training than swooning.

But unfortunately for Sasuke (and the rest of the boys in class), all he's been getting was this ear-grinding bickering.

"Sasuke-kun's mine!"

"No, he's mine, you hag!"

"None of you will have him, he's mine!"

"WILL ALL OF YOU JUST SHUT UP!"

The mob of girls were immediately silenced upon hearing their teacher. They've all lost track of time, and haven't realized that class had started. The girls quickly moved to empty seats around the class, lest they bear the brunt of Iruka's wrath. Well, everyone except Sakura.

"Move, buta."

"I got here first, forehead."

"Sakura," Iruka ordered while silently pointing at an empty seat, trying to avert yet another round of chaos in the class.

Sakura begrudgingly obliged, giving Ino a piercing glare and shaking her fist while walking to the seat presented to her.

"Ibara…" Iruka started as he took attendance. "Inuzaka…Rokuhone…Haruno…"

"Sensei."

Iruka and the rest of the class were alerted to an unfamiliar voice, breaking their familiar routine. Standing at the door was a (somewhat short) boy the students' age with spiky blond hair and whisker birthmarks. Wearing an old-fashioned, drab, earth-toned yellow and orange traditional clothing, one of the first things that most of the students noticed was the sword slung behind the boy's shoulder.

Whispers flew across the room as the students speculate on what the boy was doing here. Who was he? Will he be a new classmate? What on earth was a samurai doing in Konoha?

"Umm…may I help you, samurai-san?"

"Is this the class that will be graduating this coming March?" The boy inquired, as one of his eyes twitched at being called a samurai.

"Yes," Iruka confirmed. "Now who may I ask are you?"

"Ah, I apologize for my rudeness. I am Namikaze Naruto, and I am currently a genin-candidate. I'm just wondering if I could drop by and observe your class today."

"Namikaze?" One of the boys asked.

"Genin-candidate?" Iruka muttered, never hearing of such a rank before.

"Yes," Naruto replied. "I already graduated from Kumo Academy a year and a half ago, though for obvious reasons, I can't be a ninja there. I just arrived a couple of days ago, and Hokage said that it would be best for me to wait for the next batch of students to graduate before I'm assigned a team."

"Wait," Ino interrupted, "you said your name's Namikaze. Does that mean you're somewhat related to the Hokage?"

"Yup! The Hokage's my father." The blond proudly stated.

The constant buzz that was permeating the room suddenly erupted into a full-blown chatter. The Hokage had a son? How come they've never heard of him before? What was he like? What's with the sword? Was he the dreamy and romantic type, like Sasuke-kun? So many questions! The kids (and even Iruka) now wanted to find out more about this supposed son of the Hokage.

"You say you are the son of the Hokage," Iruka loudly spoke skeptically, silencing the class at the same time. "What would you, out of all people, be doing in Kumo?"

"Ah, simple. I was there as hostage." Naruto gladly stated, as if this were just a trivial tidbit. "The treaty ended when I turned twelve, so now I'm here."

Most of the naïve, young class gasped upon hearing the word 'hostage', severely misinterpreting what Naruto meant. For them, 'hostage' meant only one thing, totally oblivious to the original meaning of the word. The mood of the class suddenly turned gloomy as they looked at Naruto with misguided sympathy.

"I see," Iruka darkly commented. "Well class, I would like you to welcome your new classmate-"

"Sensei," Naruto said as he cut the teacher off, "I said I already graduated in Kumo; I'm just here to observe. Two of my potential teammates would likely be picked from this class, so I may as well be here to get to know who they could be. So can I hang around here for a while?"

"I guess you could, Namikaze-san," Iruka replied, unsure of what to do with this unusual situation. "You can take a seat on the teacher's desk."

As Naruto made his way to his seat in front, Sasuke gave the newcomer an appraising look. This was an interesting turn of events: A Hokage's son who just returned from Kumo. He finally had a bar to compare himself with besides that annoying banshee Ino. And by using them, he would hopefully be closer in fulfilling his ambition ever since _that_ night.

* * *

"Dad, did you know that Hokage-sama has a son?"

Inoshi cringed at what Ino has just told him. This was supposed to be an A-Ranked secret! Aside from the Hokage himself, his old teammates, and a few of the jounin, no one else should even know of this! What sort of criminal had leaked this information to his daughter? Or worse yet…

"Ino," the father sternly said to his daughter in a soft, low voice. "How did you get a hold of this information? I hope you didn't use Shintenshin to obtain this. Do you know that this could get us in a whole lot of trouble?"

"Trouble?" Ino responded in a mix of fear and incredulity. "Why on earth would I be in trouble? That Naruto person himself said that he was the Hokage's son in front of class!"

Ah, that explained it. He had forgotten all about that treaty, having fallen back to the daily routine of life over the past years. Well, if it came directly from the horse's mouth, then he guessed everything's fine then.

"Wait a minute, dad," Ino said, realizing the reason why her father just scolded her. "You _knew_ of this all along?"

"Yes, Ino. This was supposed to be an A-Ranked secret to protect the Honourable Son's identity, though seeing as he paid you guys a visit himself, I'm guessing that the word's out, so there's no harm done here."

"And you knew about him being kept hostage in Kumo…"

"Umm, sweety…"

"Oh, that poor little Naruto-kun, being locked up by those brutes in Kumo!"

"Ino, I think you're mis-"

"Why on earth did they kidnap him?" Ino wailed as she continued her misguided tirade. "I can't imagine what sorts of torture and torment Naruto-kun endured from those Kumo-nin."

* * *

"Atsui, you have the ice cubes?"

"Here they are, Naruto. Boy, I can't wait for her to go nuts."

The two boys, Atsui and Naruto, stealthily crawled along the edges of the classroom, making sure to stay hidden among the desks. Quietly, they scanned the area to look for their prey. There she was, standing out tall with neatly-cut, shoulder-length blond hair and buxom chest.

Naruto sneaked in behind the unsuspecting Samui step by step, getting ready to pounce on the prey. This was the moment…

Naruto quickly dumped five ice cubes inside the nape of Samui's shirt, causing the girl to scream and twitch at the sensation of cold ice crawling down her back.

"Hahahahaha!" Naruto and Atsui laughed at the expense of the poor girl. "_Samui, desu ne_? (Cold, isn't it?)"

"AAARRRGGGHHH‼"

And so, the two boys ran for their lives (and amusement) as the girl chased her brother and that damned son of the Hokage.

* * *

"Oh why did Konoha let Naruto-kun suffer for all this time!" Ino declared as she continued her rant. "Dad, I'm gonna make sure that Naruto-kun gets all the love that he was deprived of when he was imprisoned in Kumo!"

Inoshi can only put his palm on his face as he had to endure yet another declaration of love from Ino. Youth these days…why can't they even take a second to listen to the elders to clarify the situation?

* * *

Seated at the teacher's desk, Naruto tried to stifle yet another yawn as he watched yet another lecturer monotonously read the lesson off some history book. What's that white-haired person's name again? Mitsuki…Misaki…or something? He came here to observe, and this was all that they had to show him? Seriously, this was ten times worse than anything that he had to endure during his first year in Kumo Academy. Weren't these kids supposed to concentrate on practical aspects of being a ninja at this stage, instead of just sitting here in the classroom? Perhaps Konoha Academy did things in reverse, having to go through physical conditioning in the first years, while saving the boring details to the end.

Perhaps…maybe…hopefully.

He hasn't really learned much from yesterday in terms of getting to know some of these kids. After trying to endure a third consecutive lecture yesterday, the blond decided to simply walk out of class mid-rant. He may as well check out that metre-long choco-bread that Jay was raving about in the book before it sold out five minutes after the bakery opened. Fortunately for him, he managed to arrive just in time to get his hands on the last choco-bread—it was quite scrumptious! He then proceeded to check out several of the restaurants listed in the book, including a _donburi-ya_, a _takoyaki_ stand, and a place specializing in _katsu_. By the time his little foodie escapade was done, it was already late afternoon, and school was out for the day.

His luck was somewhat better this morning, with a bunch of girls approaching him before class. Did Ero-sennin curse him with some sort of Chick-Magnet no Jutsu during one of that pervert's visits to Kumo, or did all girls in the universe suffer from some kind of disorder around this age? Naruto couldn't really complain though: He came here to familiarize himself with his potential teammates. After one of the girls introduced herself as Yamanaka Ino, the boy gleefully asked if she was somewhat related to a Yamanaka Inoshi who visited him in Kumo around six years ago. Unfortunately for him, Naruto never got a straight answer as this Ino person inexplicably stormed out of the room in apparent rage soon after hearing his query.

She hasn't been back since.

Blah, blah, blah, the lecture continued. Naruto quietly wondered if there has ever been a casualty in the battlefield due to Talk-no-Jutsu. Half the class was already knocked unconscious, and the teacher hadn't noticed, reading the lecture off the book. Seriously, even the Kumo lecturers made an (oftentimes unsuccessful) attempt to engage the students and keep the contents relevant!

Having had enough of this, Naruto pulled out the yellow book that Darui gave him and began leafing through its contents. He may as well figure out which establishment he should check out next. A few students raised their brow at the book Naruto was looking at, but otherwise paid him no heed.

"Lesson 244 – The Kyubi Attack on Konoha and the Peace Treaty with Kumo"

Naruto's ears perked up upon hearing those words from the white-haired teacher. Finally, his curiosity has been piqued after wasting two half-mornings of sitting in the classroom. It would be interesting to hear of Konoha's accounts of the events that sent him to Kumo soon after his birth.

"But Mizuki-sensei, we've already heard that story from our parents!" One of the boys complained.

"Shouta, some of you may not have heard of this yet," the teacher replied. "So please, bear with me."

A collective groan of frustration resonated in the classroom. _All_ of the students have already been told of this by their parents!

"On the 10th of October during the second year of the Yondaime Hokage's reign, a terrible, demonic beast suddenly and without warning appeared in the Market District of Konohagakure no Sato. This gigantic fox-like beast, whose nine tails could knock down mountains and cause tsunamis and chakra to burn through objects and people, is Kyubi no Yoko.

"After causing great damage to property and casualties among the the shinobi, our ninja, led by the Honourable Elders, forced Kyubi out of Konoha's walls. After extensive preparations, the Yondaime Hokage was finally able to join the fray as the combatants defeated Kyubi after a long and protracted battle.

"Witnessing the awesome capabilities that the Konoha shinobi displayed during the battle, the delegates of Kumo were forced to abandon their senseless demands and concede to Konoha's reasonable terms. In one such condition, Kumo has been forced to take the sealed Kyubi with them back to Kumogakure to dispose of the beast…

This is what Konoha thought happened that night? Naruto couldn't hold his emotions back anymore, breaking out in full laughter at what the teacher has just said.

"HAHAHAHAHA‼ I can't believe this! Is that what you guys have been teaching these students in Konoha? Wait 'till everyone in Kumo hears of this!"

The rest of the class and Mizuki watched as the Honourable Son of the Hokage continued to laugh his ass off. What on earth was he implying? The disturbance also caught the interest of a usually bored and unmotivated Shikamaru. The blond said yesterday that he was in Kumo for almost all his life, and he looked way too happy for someone held against his will. He pretty much laughed at the story of this terrible event! Shikamaru couldn't help but feel there was more to this than his parents and teachers were letting them on.

"So Namikaze-sama," Shikamaru interrupted, surprising most of his classmates (and Mizuki) at his sudden participation. "You mean to tell us that what Mizuki-sensei taught us was a lie? Or was it Kumo that lied to you?"

"Ah, it wasn't a total lie, though that textbook did leave out a few juicy details." Naruto replied, while waving his yellow book around carelessly. "You see, before Kyu-chan attacked, some Uch-"

CRASH‼

Screams from the girls (and a few boys) pierced the air as the window besides the teacher's desk shattered into pieces. A few of the alert students (which unfortunately consisted of only Sasuke and Shikamaru) noticed that there was a kunai sticking out of the desk which Naruto was in. Were they being attacked?

"What the hell, Kakashi-nii-chan? Did you really have to do that?"

Out in the courtyard standing on a tree branch overlooking the classroom was a masked jounin whose left eye was covered with the forehead protector. And it seemed that Naruto knew him.

"Now, now, Naruto-kun," Kakashi said. "You can't be telling telling these guys of that."

"What do you mean they're not allowed to know? Knowledge is power, you know!"

Naruto was answered by a nice, juicy tomato splattered all over his face, courtesy of Kakashi.

Another crash was heard in the classroom, this time, due to a hole in the wall that the Hokage's son made on his way out to chase the jounin. As the two figures disappeared in the maze of buildings, the students and Mizuki could only wonder at what just happened.

* * *

"You're not gonna give me another lecture, are you, Otousan?"

"No, Naruto. Not this time."

"Then what am I here for this time?"

Naruto looked around the room that was the Hokage's Office, wondering why he was called here. At first, he thought that his father was going to make his reprimands official, after much debating and arguing the merits of keeping secrets of any sorts in the village. Seriously, if you claim that the village is strong, what have you got to hide? Kumo had no problem telling them every bit of information he deserved to know (even the attempted plan to kidnap his mother). Is being a ninja outside Kumo really based on deceit and lies?

"Naruto, there's this matter of that book you received from Kumo."

Ah, that. Naruto had to admit that _A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha _has yet to fail him when it came to pointing him to the best eats in town. The book must be so awesome that Otousan even made a copy for himself.

"Son, with great power comes great responsibility," Minato continued. "And you keep on saying yourself that knowledge is power. That book of yours contains plenty of things that our enemies would love to get their hands on."

"You're telling me to give the book up!" Naruto complained. "Never!"

"I admit that would have been my first reaction. However, there are also things in that book that even I didn't know about. Big things that _I_ should have been informed of."

Naruto gave his father a quizzical look. His father, the Hokage, doesn't know everything that he needed to run Konoha? Boy, this was all screwed up.

"Naruto, you're new to the village, so hardly anyone here knows about you." Minato continued. "If I were to assign someone else for this, this will pretty much alert all the conspirators of what's going on. And some of the things in that book are too important to just leave alone and ignore until you become an official ninja."

The Hokage promptly tossed his son a scroll. Naruto opened it, and read its contents. A B-Ranked mission.

"Son, consider this, as Kumo may call it, your genin-enabling mission. Konoha's security will rest on how you fare on this."

* * *

Yakushi Kabuto exited the hospital as he ended yet another night shift in these cool, morning hours. Though only a genin, the young teen has shown amplitude on medical jutsu, not surprising considering he was the adopted son of Konoha's current Chief Medical Officer. Throughout his tumultuous life, he has received offers from numerous parties offering him incentives in exchange of switching his allegiance. So far, he's done a good job playing them off each other, though he has made up his mind on whom his one true loyalty belonged to.

As he walked a few steps on his way back home, Kabuto saw a young boy in traditional clothing with a sword on his back wandering about, as if lost. A samurai in Konoha? Using a bright, yellow book for reference, the confused blond looked left and right, before setting his eyes on the medic-nin and began approaching the said person. Oh great, a lost tourist.

"Hi, Konoha-nin," the boy greeted him. "Sorry to bother you. I'm new to Konoha, and I'm wondering where I can find this restaurant that serves breakfast."

Kabuto's stomach growled upon hearing the word 'breakfast'. He shouldn't really skip his meals during his shifts, but all the new things he's been learning from his adoptive father were fascinating. Oh well, might as well accompany the boy to eat. Besides, he could use this chance to expand his network of connections outside Konoha.

"No problem, boy. I was going to grab something to bite myself. By the way, the name's Yakushi Kabuto."

"Ah, nice to meet you, Yakushi-san. I'm Namikaze Naruto. I'm the Hokage's son, and I just arrived here from Kumo a few days ago."

Kabuto's brows perked up upon hearing the brat's name. The Hokage had a son?

* * *

After eating a traditional-style breakfast at what turned out to be a _ryokan_, Naruto and Kabuto spent much of the morning hopping back and forth between restaurants, from ordering _yakitori_ at a stand, to eating _mochi_ at a sweet shop, and culminating with attending a traditional tea ceremony. They made a brief stop at the Hokage Monument, before checking out other places listed in Naruto's yellow book.

So how the heck did the two of them end up in the sewers? More importantly, Kabuto observed that these sewers were lit, implying that this was some sort of regularly-used secret passageway. The medic-nin can't help but wonder about the pinpoint accuracy of the maps in Naruto's book. If he were to get a hold of even a few pages of this book, this would immensely help in Orochimaru-sama's plans for Konoha.

He thanked the heavens that the Hokage's son, out of all people, managed to befriend him. Having connections with people higher up was never a bad thing.

The duo soon found themselves in front of large, imposing, solid iron gates.

"Um, Naruto-kun," Kabuto said with a slight hint of fear. "What are we doing here again?"

"Ah, Yakushi-san," Naruto replied cheerfully, "there's just someone here whom I'd like to meet."

Without any hesitation, Naruto gave the gates a couple of good, hard knocks. As the echoes resonate throughout the sewers, they heard a deep creak as the gates opened.

Suddenly, the two of them found themselves surrounded by six ANBU. Kabuto had a very bad feeling about this, though Naruto himself seemed relaxed and confident.

"State your business here." An ANBU ordered in a cold, threatening voice.

"ANBU-san," Naruto replied. "I'm wondering if I could meet with Shimura-sama."

Kabuto's face was quickly drenched in cold sweat upon hearing the name of the person Naruto was asking for. He's heard rumours circulating about the said person, none of them good.

"And who are you, boy?" The ANBU asked.

"Ah, sorry about that. I'm Namikaze Naruto – son of the Hokage."

"You liar! The Hokage has no son!" The ANBU accused as he drew his _ninjato_ to strike the intruder down.

"Ox, stand down!"

All of them stopped as they turned to see the source of the voice. A frail, elderly figure, whose head and right arm were wrapped in bandages, slowly walked towards the gate, the rhythm of this tapping cane bouncing back and forth in the chamber. The elder took a good look at the two young boys who dared intrude his secret base, paying particular attention to the person dressed in yellow. He's heard about him from his old comrades, though he's never seen the boy himself before.

"So, you must be Namikaze's son."

"That's right, Shimura-sama!" Naruto cheerfully responded.

"What do you want with me, boy?" Danzo asked, taking a good first look at the son of the Hokage.

"Ah, I'd like for you to meet my new acquaintance! Meet Yakushi Kabuto, a medic-nin in Konoha Hospital. He's also a proud double-agent working for Orochimaru, Sasori, and the rest of the Akatsuki!"

Kabuto's complexion paled upon hearing what Naruto has just told Danzo. He couldn't believe he's just been set up. How the hell did Naruto even know all that! The book!

Unfortunately for the bespectacled genin, the Ne agents seized him upon hearing the word 'Orochimaru' from Naruto.

"I see that your agents like my friend, Shimura-sama." Naruto continued. "I'm sure that you'll have fun with him for a long, long time."

Before Kabuto could say anything, he was immediately bound and gagged by Ox, being dragged afterwards into the bowels of the secret chamber.

"Oh yeah, Shimura-sama," Naruto said. "Father said that he wanted to meet with you at 1400h. Something about history and village security."

Naruto finished by casually tossing a tri-pronged kunai that his father was infamous for into the Ne chamber, letting it harmlessly land on the tiled floor. As the blond turned back to leave, the three remaining agents quickly moved to prevent the boy from leaving.

"Ah, you three want to play?" Naruto asked, his hand inching its way towards his sword at the prospect of having a spar against Konoha-nin.

"Let the boy go." Danzo ordered.

"But-"

"Let him leave."

The three ANBU obliged and stepped aside, allowing Naruto to walk past them. Danzo's eyes narrowed as the boy's figure disappeared into the darkness. He had been found out. As much as he wanted to hold the boy prisoner, he knew that if Naruto could find his way down here, it would only be a matter of time before the bulk of Konoha's forces descended upon his lair.

Danzo was not looking forward to this. He had a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

**NB** In case you're asking, yes, this fic is named after Naruto's nifty yellow book. I've decided on that a long time ago.


	7. Security Upgrade

Hey there! Here's the next chapter, so enjoy, and happy spring break!

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

VII: Security Upgrade

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked around the room as he patiently waited alone in the Hokage's Office. No, he wasn't here to fill in for the Yondaime right now. Though it wasn't really the first time in this situation, it still felt strange for the old man to be seated in the visitor's chair after spending much of his life working behind the same desk he was currently seated in front of. Aside from a bookcase being moved, its contents changed, a filled-in crack in the desk (caused by Ei) and a picture frame on it, nothing much has really changed about the room.

The Sandaime Hokage wondered what he was here for this time. The young Naruto just dropped by his place half an hour ago to tell him that Minato wanted to see him. Maybe that's it—the retired Kage never really got the chance to give his successor a briefing of what went on in Konoha while he was away in Kumo, figuring out that Minato was too busy getting Naruto settled in his new home. Well, nothing much has happened, really. The young village leader probably just wanted to spend a few, quality moments with him.

Hiruzen's head turned towards the door as he heard them creak open. Unexpectedly, it wasn't Minato—it was old comrade and rival, Danzo. Maybe this was more than just a simple briefing.

"Sarutobi, you're here too…"

Danzo's lone visible eye narrowed at the man who oftentimes foiled his plans. Though he heavily resented Sarutobi for most of his past actions, the Head of Ne couldn't help but think that someone else blew the whistle on him, seeing that the retired Kage looked way too relaxed even after their encounter.

Danzo took the seat opposite of Hiruzen in front of the Hokage's desk. A few tense and unspoken moments passed by, both elders just looking around the room they've both been in for many times in the past.

Soon, two other figures entered the room by the same door: Minato and his sensei, Jiraiya. And it seemed that the Hokage was carrying four thick folders with him.

"Minato, you invited them too?"

Minato didn't bother acknowledging his sensei, walking briskly past the two elders and taking his seat. The two old men noticed that the Hokage was, for some reason, livid. Not even bothering with a greeting, the Namikaze gave the two old men in front of him a cold, piercing glare.

Even Jiraiya was dead silent. The Toad Sage would usually crack up a joke or two to lighten the mood. Something must have gotten to a normally calm Minato to get him this miffed.

"Minato-kun," Hiruzen started, breaking the deafening silence. "What is this all about?"

The Hokage quickly slid two of the folders he was carrying to the elders, while tossing a third one to Jiraiya, who was standing by the door. The two elders read the cover of the folder.

_A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha_

"Page three hundred and thirty," Minato stated.

Wishing to finally find out what this was all about, Hiruzen and Danzo quickly flipped their respective folders to the aforementioned page. A cold bead of sweat ran down Hiruzen's face as his eyes fell on the heading of this section of the file.

"The Uchiha Massacre"

The two old men slowly raised their heads to face the Hokage, their eyes unconsciously trying to avert the cold stare of the said man. So this was what Naruto meant when he said that Minato wanted to talk about history.

"Read it." Minato ordered.

For a few long and tense minutes, the elders silently read the passages. Each word that their eyes have set upon was like an extra burden weighing down their heavy souls. Word for word, phrase by phrase, the two of them were forced to re-live the moments leading up to the atrocities that they, along with their remaining friends, have tried to sweep under the rug.

"Sarutobi, Shimura, when were you planning on telling me about this?"

Hiruzen cringed at how he was addressed by the Hokage, knowing that he has now lost Minato's trust. He was regretting keeping this matter away from Minato's eyes.

"Namikaze," Danzo hesitantly replied, "do you know how much of an outrage this would cause if word of this ever leaks out?"

"Shimura, may I ask who told Sarutobi of this conspiracy to begin with."

The Kumo hostage! How could the five of them overlook that one little detail! And now, after all that effort trying to take this secret with them to the grave, it's coming back to bite them.

"Sarutobi, Shimura, you haven't answered my question. Why was I not informed of this?"

"Minato," Hiruzen weakly replied, "we thought that if we were to involve the regular shinobi forces to deal with this conspiracy, this would have caused much bloodshed and a terrible civil war…"

"Blood was already shed, Sarutobi!" Minato yelled out. "Now, once again, tell me, why wasn't _I_ informed of this, even a few days after the fact?"

"We made a promise…the five of us and Itachi." Sarutobi finally answered, resigned to the fate that may await him. "We promised him never to tell another soul about this."

A deafening silence blanketed the room, as the two frail old men lowered their heads in the midst of the Yondaime Hokage's wrath. Minato briefly wondered if he could ever trust any of the elders again. But considering the state that the village was in after the massacre, he unfortunately had very little choice in the matter.

"You still should have told me," Minato coldly warned. "I am the ruling Hokage, and it is within my right to know."

A few tense moments passed as the Hokage watched Sarutobi and Shimura squirm before him.

"Table of contents, page vii," Minato ordered.

Not wanting to face the Yellow Flash's fury in its physical form, the two disgraced elders obeyed and turned to the part of the file the Yondaime Hokage wanted them to see. While flipping to the said section, Danzo was disheartend by the maps that he saw in some of the pages. Once he got to the table of contents, his mind grew weary as he realized the extent of the security breach Kumo has caused.

One such sub-heading simply stated 'Emergency Food Stores', while another, 'Bloodline Limits'. Just by looking at the table of contents, the two elders and Jiraiya realized that the book contained brief profiles of various Konoha shinobi, plans of the various infrastructures, and even detailed descriptions of enemy plots against the village.

"H-How did you even get a hold of this?" Danzo asked.

"Prologue, page ii."

Hiruzen and Danzo turned to the said page. The printed page said:

"This book was written for and dedicated to Namikaze Naruto – the son of the Hokage, and a friend of Kumo."

They couldn't believe it. Kumo just gave them all the information they spied from them, just like that?

"Now tell me, Sarutobi, Shimura, Jiraiya, why does Kumo know more about our own village and enemies than we do?"

Danzo promptly replied. "Namikaze, I share your outrage about this major lapse in security. I shall launch an investigation on how those scum managed to obtain-"

"You are missing the point, Shimura. We're lucky that Kumo is even sharing this information with us!"

Minato paused, turning his head towards Jiraiya.

"And don't you think that you're absolved of all this, sensei. Why don't _we_ know much of what's printed in this book? Since when has our intelligence network fallen to such low standards?"

The Hokage looked on as the three men before him hung their heads.

"I'm beginning to think that Kumo was right about blinding ourselves with all this secrecy! The two of you withheld information from me, you were running a secret organization, you're away from the village most of the time, yet never mentioned this Kabuto kid to me and Shimura, and you tried to drive Ne deeper underground. The three of you have been trying to fulfill your own little agendas, and look where that led us?"

Minato should have done this some time ago. It is not that he wasn't grateful for the help that he received from the Sarutobi and his sensei, but it seemed that he was seen by some as a puppet during his tenure. Sure, he needed guidance during his first few years in office. But those years of crisis should have been behind them. It may seem belated, but beginning today, he will assert his authority as Yondaime Hokage.

"From now on, ultimate command of all ninja will revert to me, and all information obtained will go through me."

"Minato," Hiruzen quietly spoke, "I know that you have the best interest of Konoha in your mind, but don't you think that you're taking on much more than you can handle? There was a reason why I established those departments."

"I never said I'd abolish any of the special units, Sarutobi. I'm just making sure that everyone answers to me at my demand and when necessary."

"However," Minato continued, "there will be a major overhaul in our security and intelligence-gathering activities. Shimura, you will be in charge of security and intelligence within the village walls."

"You're assigning Danzo-" Sarutobi weakly protested, before being cut off.

"I don't exactly trust the two of you anymore. Despite my sentiments…and yours, I still know that both of you are still loyal to Konoha. Shimura, you've embezzled funds from the treasury for Ne. Prove me that the investment you made was worthwhile."

"Sensei," as Minato turned to Jiraiya, "you will be in charge of security and intelligence beyond the village walls. And as soon as this meeting is over, you will make contact with Itachi and tell him that he has been retroactively assigned a mission by the orders of the Yondaime Hokage."

The Gama Sennin shuddered at the prospect of even trying to go near the said Uchiha. He never even knew of the details of the massacre before reading that book. How was he to know if the person still labeled an S-ranked criminal was still loyal to Konoha or not?

"Both Ne, and Jiraiya's network will now be overseen by the Intelligence Unit. Anything you find out will be relayed to the unit, and any critical information that you may come across will be shared with me, the Intelligence Unit Head, and the Head Jounin."

Danzo, Hiruzen, and Jiraiya nodded their heads in understanding. They remained quiet as they awaited the Hokage's next orders, not daring to anger him any further.

"Sarutobi, get me Morino and Nara." Minato finished off. "The rest of you, resume your duties. And may I suggest that you all make good use of that book."

As the three of them walked out the office, Hiruzen and Jiraiya heard Danzo mumble out a low curse. The Old Hokage could only nod in enviable agreement with his old rival.

"Damn you, Torifu. You are one lucky bastard."

* * *

"My own forehead protector…"

Naruto ran his finger through the piece of steel on dark blue cloth that signified his membership in Konoha's forces. He was trained all his life for this, and today was just the beginning. He knew of the enormous responsibilities expected of him as Kyubi Jinchuriki, and starting today, he will be fulfilling his role as Konoha's guardian. Sure, he couldn't really do much right now without a team, but hopefully, his father would soon assign him some awesome missions.

The boy looked out the window and saw that it was already dark. In the streets below their apartment, many stores were already closing up while some of the food stands were setting up shop to cater to the people leaving work. Work—his father told him that he would be late tonight. Apparently, Naruto's first mission was such a success that the Hokage was able to set his plans into motion right away. But what was he going to do for the evening? He could watch TV, but the soap operas currently running in Hi no Kuni were in the middle of the story, so there wouldn't be a point for him to start watching them right now. And video games were no fun without other people around to play them.

In the end, Naruto turned to his trusty yellow book. Might as well use this time to get to know some of the village's personalities. As he browsed through the biography section, he came upon the description of a ninja which completely puzzled him.

"What the heck, Darui! Why on earth would anyone want to know this Anko chick has a mole on the right side of her left breast?"

* * *

"Man, I can't believe the village's security sucks this much!"

Such was Naruto's evaluation of the state of Konoha's preparedness as he continued on the latest mission given to him by his father. Actually, it was Naruto himself who suggested this type of mission. Quality assurance checks were a regular assignment for fresh genin in Kumo, mainly to keep their ninja from genin to jounin in tip-top shape. Naruto wondered out loud the previous night in front of his father whether he could do such a mission today. Imagine his disbelief when Minato told him that he's never heard of such a mission before.

Naruto made his final checks before revealing this serious deficiency before everyone, hopefully giving someone a chance to redeem themselves. Timers set to thirty seconds. All plastic packs in place. The blond just sat there in plain view, waiting for someone…anyone to show up and thwart his plans. Seriously, how can anyone not notice that a stranger (namely Naruto) was doing something suspicious in public in the first place?

Oh well, let the mayhem begin!

The Hokage Monument was suddenly jolted in simultaneous explosions as the various tags attached to the plastic packs exploded. Litres of paint splashed around the vicinity, vandalizing the monument and drenching nearby passersby of the gooey substance. Soon, Konoha was greeted by the sight of a caricaturized Hashirama, a zombie-vampire Tobirama, a lecherous Hiruzen (compete with nosebleed), and a ghastly-looking and sick Minato, complete with snot dripping from its nose. Structurally, the monument was intact, though anyone currently looking at it would think otherwise.

"Ha! I, the Great Namikaze Naruto, genin extraordinaire hailing from the glorious heights of Kaminari no Kuni, am proud to show all of you my latest masterpiece entitled 'The True Faces of the Hokage'."

Needless to say, everyone was outraged.

"You dare desecrate the faces of the Hokage!"

"Didn't your teachers in the Academy teach you anything?"

"You freaking terrorist!"

"Who did you steal that forehead protector from, kid?"

"Who the hell are you, impostor? How dare you impersonate Hokage-sama!"

Soon, Naruto found himself running throught the maze of buildings that was Konoha, chased by a sadly unorganized mob of chunin and jounin. Boy, was this fun! No wonder many genin in Kumo were always looking forward for this kind of mission.

* * *

With his head resting on his arms, Nara Shikamaru was comfortably snoozing away yet another school day as the teacher was reading another boring lecture, dreaming of shogi, watching clouds, and napping. Ah, this was the way things were supposed to be, living a relaxing life with no worries to deal with. However, he was jolted out of his slumber as he, along with the rest of the class, heard an explosion coming from the Hokage Monument.

Man, this was really annoying! The girls were screaming, the boys were frantically looking around in panic, and that Ino girl was barking out orders as if she were boss.

"Shut up!" Iruka shouted, trying to regain order in the classroom. "If this attack were to happen here, all of you except Ino would be dead right now! Now calm down."

After a few moments, the class did manage to quiet themselves down. One by one, the students and the teacher gawked at what just happened in the Hokage Monument. Apparently, someone had given it a new paint job. And was that the boy who visited the class a couple of weeks ago?

"Iruka!" One of the chunin exclaimed as he burst into the classroom. "One of your students has been playing hookey and just vandalized the Hokage Monument!"

"What do you mean one of my students? All twenty-six of them are here in this room right now!"

"Dang it!" The chunin cursed out loud. "He must be Mizuki's then-"

"Chunin," Kakashi said, cutting the chunin off. "Please report to the Hokage's Office right now."

The Academy students were (unfortunately) amazed at the 'speed' in which things were developing. A chunin was able to alert their teacher in under a minute. They even haven't noticed the jounin arrive when he made himself known! Wait, was he the same jounin who caused all that commotion in class two weeks ago? Cool!

Oh how low has the skills of a Konoha-nin fallen!

"But Kakashi-senpai, there's that kid on the Monument-"

"Oh yes, this is indeed about him. And you will get to know him really well once the meeting starts."

The chunin immediately complied, and bolted out of the classroom. Iruka, thinking that the order also applied to him, started to make his way towards the door.

"Iruka-sensei, sorry for the rude interruption by the chunin," Kakashi said. "Please resume your lesson."

As Kakashi casually walked out of the room, Shikamaru could only wonder what was going on. This certainly wasn't an emergency, seeing that the jounin just suggested for Iruka-sensei to continue. And why would the Hokage go out of his way and deliberately send his son out to cause trouble? The Nara really hated this, having to lose his precious nap time having all these thoughts gnawing at his head.

* * *

"Kabuto, we would really appreciate it if you would tell us more about your latest master."

The young medic-nin was huffing and puffing after yet another round of 'interrogation' from the capable hands of the Torture and Interrigation division of the re-organized Intelligence Unit. He has already told them much of what he already knew about Sasori and the Akatsuki. Apparently, Konoha and even Kumo were after these guys, and he would welcome any chance to run any sort of interference against Orochimaru-sama's former associates. But he'll do his utmost best to keep Konoha from knowing of Orochimaru-sama's plans.

With his body bloodied and battered and both arms hanging in the prison cell, Kabuto painstakingly raised his head to take yet another look at his latest tormentor. Morino Ibiki—so the division chief himself has taken personal charge of this case. Kabuto thought that the Torture and Interrogation division and Ne were on bad terms with each other. What compelled them to co-operate this time?

"Never," Kabuto spat back. "Orochimaru-sama deserves his justice. He deserves to take back what is rightfully his."

"The kid is quite spunky, don't you say, Morino?"

Kabuto and Ibiki turned to look at the source of the elderly voice.

"Danzo-sama, so you're also here."

"Namikaze entrusted this kid and your division to my care, Ibiki." Danzo replied. "It would be my head on the line here if the village were to be compromised because we couldn't get information out of him."

"He's stubborn, though."

"That's right," Kabuto shot back. "I'd die first before you get anything out of me!"

"Very well then," Danzo said, contemplating his next course of action. "Morino, you may use any means necessary short of killing or mentally incapacitating him. May I suggest…"

Kabuto weakly looked on as Danzo whispered something in Ibiki's ear. Ibiki's face grew a vicious smile upon hearing what the elder had suggested. Kabuto could only shudder as he could only wonder what horrors they had in store for him.

"That's cruel, Danzo-sama, even just to soften him up." Ibiki said, chuckling lowly at Danzo's suggestion.

"Cruel we may be, but that's our job."

Ibiki quickly marched towards Kabuto with purpose, keeping his wicked smile on his face, making sure that the victim saw it. He then stripped Kabuto of what remained of his tattered pants, quickly exposing the double-agent's posterior.

"W-what are you going to do with me…"

Ibiki slowly made a tiger seal, showing it before Kabuto's horrified face. Ibiki then walked to the rear, his index fingers fully charged with chakra in preparation of the nasty torture technique. Without warning, the torturer shoved his fingers in the victim's groin.

"Sennen Goroshi! (A Thousand Years of Death)"

A hoarse scream erupted from the weakened victim as pain stabbed through from his nether regions, the ghoulish sounds of his cries resonating within the dungeons. The chains holding the arms and legs of the prisoner tensed up as his body tried to fly away from the pain.

"Next time, Kabuto, it's going in." Ibiki warned. "Now tell us what Orochimaru's up to."

These are going to be long months ahead for Yakushi Kabuto.

* * *

"Echirou, you are a freaking hack, you know!"

"What do you mean I'm hacking, Naruto? You're the one who's got a laggy connection!"

It was late in the evening, and quiet buzz of the machines and the luminescent glow of the monitors filled the Broadcast Centre in the former Kumo Office. Yeah, Naruto (along with his friends in Kumo) were supposed to be at home in bed at this time. But he really wanted to play that video game he got for his birthday in multiplayer mode, having been bored of its single player campaign. And he couldn't really be bothered with asking a random kid here in Konoha to play games with him…way too awkward.

In the end, Naruto decided to settle for this, sneaking out of the house for his little midnight _rendez-vous_ online with his friends back in Kumo. Yes, he knew this was really stupid and the idea in itself was highly illegal, but sometimes all that has to take a back seat in the name of friendship! He managed to make contact with Tenga a couple of days before, and delighted that the Konoha end of the broadcast network was still operational, the tech whiz decided to fulfill Naruto's little request.

And so, for the past two hours, Naruto, Echirou, Omoi, and three other boys in Kumo were playing the same game, with Naruto losing each and every single match they've played. Yup, pure senseless fun…except for Naruto.

"Oi, Omoi, you guys should have a machine out there that should simulate latency. Why don't you guys hook that one up among your consoles?"

"Are you serious, Naruto?" Omoi deadpanned, his face scrowled up on the monitor. "Why do you think we would do that?"

"You guys have an unfair advantage right now, you know?"

"Naruto, there's no such thing as unfair advantage in being a ninja…"

"What does this have to do with being a ninja?" Naruto complained. "This is only a freaking game, Omoi!"

"Exactly. Only a game." Omoi quipped back.

"Can the two of you keep it down a bit," Echirou interjected. "It's getting way too loud in here."

The bickering largely died down as the monitors showing the faces of Naruto's friends drifted in and out of static. There must be a weather system between Kumo and Konoha that's been messing with the signals, and they probably don't have a lot of time left for the night.

"Okay guys, just one more game." Naruto said. "And this time, go easy on me."

"As if we would do that," Echirou replied, his mischievous smile on the monitor irritating Naruto to no end.

"Fine, fine, let's start already."

Suddenly, Naruto heard someone on the other end shout from one of the speakers.

"Everyone, the cat is out! RUN!"

The five monitors showing the faces of the Kumo-nin were quickly vacated in panic upon hearing this warning from the sentry. With a brow held high, Naruto looked at the screen showing the game which indicated that the five other players were still 'online'. The blond can't believe it; they left their consoles behind! While hearing his friends scramble away, he heard an angry yet familiar female voice shout out in the background.

"You brats! Come back here! The Broadcast Centre is not for fun and games!"

After a short moment of silence, Naruto saw a blond-haired woman pop up in one of the monitors, with a frown written all over her face. Ah, a sight for sore eyes: He hasn't seen her in a while!

"Hi there, Yugito-obachan!" Naruto cheerfully greeted. "Long time no see!"

Through the camera, the radio waves, and the monitor, the Nibi Jinchuriki glared back at her former ward for his antics this late at night (and calling her obachan).

"You too, Naruto," Yugito growled back. "Go home."

All the monitors suddenly cut to static as the Kumo end of the network severed its connections.

* * *

**Erratum:** In the previous chapters, all references to 'Inoshi' should be read as 'Inoichi'. Thanks to kail420 for pointing that out. *bangs own head for not double-checking names*

**PS:** This was originally supposed to be part of Chapter VI. I felt it went ran too long though, so I had to split this part off. The Hokage Monument and Torture scenes weren't part of the overall story as I planned to begin with, but hey, such is the writing process. Thanks for In The Mix for the idea.


	8. Team Kakashi

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted last week: Got too busy again. And once again, all that effort for naught.

Oh well, to my seven hundred readers, here's the eighth chapter! And remember kids, unemployment sucks.

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

VIII: Team Kakashi

Haruno Sakura looked at herself in the mirror to do yet another check on her appearance. Clothes prim and proper—check. No zits or blemishes on her face—check. Her long, pink hair brushed silky smooth—check. As usual, her big concern was that large forehead of hers, but she was resigned to the fact that she really can't do anything about it. As she reached for her red ribbon to tie her hair back, she caught a glance of the forehead protector given to her last Friday.

That's right, she along with the rest of her twenty-five classmates all took the Academy Graduation Exams that day, and for the first time in a long time in Konoha's history, every single one in that class passed. Unfortunately for her, the teachers never really disclosed the test scores to the class, so she had no idea how she'd compare with Ino-buta that day. But still, now that she was a ninja, she would hopefully be in a better position to win Sasuke-kun's affections. Who knows? Maybe they'll even end up in the same team!

Sakura grabbed the new shiny forehead protector and used that instead of her old red ribbon to tie her hair back. Satisfied with the way she appeared right now, she grabbed her kunai holster to tie it around her right leg. Yup, from now on, she was a shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato!

"Sakura-chan! Breakfast is ready!"

"Mom!" Sakura yelled back. "Haven't I told you already that I'm on a diet right now?"

Why couldn't her mom understand that this was important to her right now? Can't she see that there was currently an arms race among the girls in their attempt to be Sasuke-kun's ideal girl? She could spare no slack in order to keep up with them, lest one of those harpies end up with her beloved, especially that pig!

Sakura looked at the clock on her desk; twenty minutes until the meeting starts. She had to get there right now, or someone else would beat her to the punch. In an effort to get to the Academy as soon as possible, she ran downstairs and headed towards the door.

"Bye, mom. See you this afternoon."

"Sakura-chan! You're forgetting your…lunch…"

Sakura's mother could only watch as her daughter made a mad dash for the Academy. Yes, she knew that this was a very important day for Sakura. It somewhat saddened her that her daughter was slowly drifting away, spending less and less quality time with the family. Well, she guessed that was to be expected with kids finally growing up. With a sigh, she sat in the kitchen table and began eating from the forgotten bento box that Sakura had yet again left behind.

* * *

"Ino-buta! I was here first!"

"No you weren't! I was!"

Sasuke growled in frustration as he endured these two bickering girls, as he had for a good part of the past two years. The boy took little comfort that this would be the last day he had to put up with the girls' constant screaming and swooning; he doubt that they would change overnight and be competent ninja just like that. Why on earth couldn't they just focus on the task at hand? Had those girls concentrated their efforts on those lessons that their sensei taught instead of being obsessed with love, then perhaps their teachers would have taught them more—even higher-level techniques. For crying out loud, why would anyone their age would want to be anyone's wife? None of them were even fit enough to bear his children!

Wait a minute, where did that thought come from? Oh great, they were now infecting him with this virus called love!

"Buta, I'm sitting next to Sasuke-kun!"

"Oh no, forehead! Sasuke-kun deserves me more than you!"

Sasuke's frown worsened as pinkie and blondie continued to push and shove each other fighting over that precious real estate that was the seat beside him. He didn't get it: Why couldn't this Ino just show what she was capable of, kick Sakura's ass, and get this over with? If the long-haired Yamanaka were trying to impress him by pretending to be a sweet and gentle person, then quite frankly, she thought wrong. He was after power, not weakness!

As the two girls continued their scrum, Sakura finally thought of an idea that would give her an advantage in her current predicament. Without warning, instead of pushing the blonde away from the desk, she pushed Ino _into_ the seat will all the strength that she could muster, hoping for that squealing pig to just fly off and land on the other side. Then she would take possession of her conquest and take her rightful place seated beside Sasuke-kun.

Unfortunately for Sakura, she was still a little…correction, way too weak. Instead of flying past Sasuke, Ino ended up bowling over the young heartthrob, sending the two of them crashing to the other side. What happened after that caused quite a scandal among the girls in the graduating class.

Ino found herself on top of Sasuke-kun. What's worse (or better according to Ino), the blonde had her lips locked with those of the black-haired Uchiha.

After a few moments of stupefied silence, all hell broke loose.

"What the hell, buta! How dare you steal Sasuke-kun's first kiss!"

"You whore! Why do you have to pollute Sasuke-kun's purity like that!"

"Sasuke-kun was supposed to be mine! Only mine!"

Ino merely let the other girls whine and cry as she took full advantage of the situation. After five full seconds of giving her 'beloved' a nice, passionate kiss, the blonde stood up, jumped on the desk, and made a proclamation as she flashed a grin to her rivals.

"Quit your whining! I merely took the initiative and seized the opportunity presented itself! I bet none of you had the audacity to do what I just did!"

The other girls turned to Sasuke and gave him a maniacal look on their faces. For the first time in a long, long time, Sasuke shivered as he thought of how these girls would ravage him. Wait a freaking minute, why the heck was he afraid of the girls? Weren't they just a bunch of weaklings a while ago?

Fortunately for Sasuke, Iruka decided this was a good moment to enter the classroom, forestalling the girls' plans to follow Ino's lead and have their little piece of Sasuke-kun. Sasuke rose up and returned to his seat, while Sakura took the moment to quickly claim the seat beside him. Ino, standing on the desk in front of Sasuke, turned to look at Sakura and glared at her.

"Forehead, move! That was my seat!"

"Too bad, buta!" Sakura countered. "I'm going to take a page out of your playbook and take initiative." The pink-haired girl finished off by sticking her tongue out to her rival.

"Why you…"

"Ino," Iruka interrupted. "Go and take the seat beside Shikamaru."

Ino complied, jumping off Sasuke's desk and mumbling complaints under her breath as she made her way towards her seat.

* * *

"Now, here are your three-man teams. Team Hizashi…"

Finally, they were at the good part; the whole reason why they were in this room at this moment. At first, they thought that all those days of monotonous lectures were already behind them. But no, Iruka had to give them a lengthly speech on how they were now shinobi, the responsibilities expected of them, and something about the 'Will of Fire'. Hopefully, they didn't have to endure any more of that in the future as they embark on starting their careers as ninja of Konoha.

Sakura looked on nervously as she waited for her name to be called. Will she be with Sasuke-kun, or will this be the one and final chance for her to be beside him? What if she were assigned to a team with people she can't stand or get along with? What if she ended up being in the same team as Ino-buta?

"Team Kakashi. His team will consist of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Namikaze Naruto."

As Sasuke sounded a sigh of frustration, Sakura jumped out on her desk and yelled out loud:

"YES! LOVE CONQUERS ALL‼ Wait…Namikaze who?"

With the rest of the girls were beginning to have their eyes water up at the losing their Sasuke-kun, Ino quickly stood up to air her grievances.

"Wait a freaking minute, Iruka-sensei!" Ino protested. "How come forehead gets put in the same team as Sasuke-kun and Hokage-sama's son? Why can't _I_ be in that team?"

Iruka sighed. From what he's heard from the other teachers, this always happened every year. It's pretty much a given that someone would not be happy with the team assignments. It's a good thing he prepared himself for this outburst.

"Ino," Iruka replied, "this was Hokage-sama's decision, not mine. Besides, you placed at top of this class, and it's tradition for the top graduate to be put with the dead last of the class, which in this case is Shikamaru."

"Then why can't Hokage-sama place Sasuke-kun or Naruto-kun in my team?" Ino pouted, not consoled by the fact that she managed to beat Sasuke and be this class' top graduate.

"Look Ino, unlike you, I can't read minds. So unless you're planning on doing something illegal, just keep quiet and accept the placements."

"Give it up, Ino." Shikamaru cut in. "No matter what you could have done, you would have never ended up with Sasuke barring being the dead last of this class. And for you to actually achieve that, you needed to score lower than a 20 in the exams. But then, you wouldn't pass and be here if that happened."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it…" Ino shot back, unhappy about the whole situation.

"Alright," Iruka continued, "continuing were I left off before I was rudely interrupted. Team Asuma. His team will consist of Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji, and Nara Shikamaru."

As Iruka continued announcing the teams, Ino just grumbled in her seat beside Shikamaru, cursing the heavens for all the bad luck that she was currently having. Oh well, at least she got to kiss Sasuke-kun.

* * *

"Sarutobi-sama. To what do I owe you the pleasure of having you here?"

It's been five long months since the Yondaime Hokage gave the elders a verbal lashing on how they were undermining his authority. It has taken a long time, but Hiruzen was glad that they were now at least on speaking terms. He hoped the following conversation wouldn't rub off Minato the wrong way, but wanted to hear the logic behind the Hokage's latest series of decisions from the man himself.

"Minato-kun. You rigged the test, didn't you?"

"Whatever do you mean by that?" Minato replied, feigning ignorance.

"I mean this…"

Hiruzen slid the current Hokage a small, ten-page document. Ah, the written portion of the Academy Graduation Exams. It wasn't really the most honourable thing that Minato had done, but it did give him a convenient excuse to arrange the teams the way he (and coincidentally, a few lobbying parents) wanted.

"Questions forty-three and forty-four." Hiruzen stated. "Those, I believe, were questions that only a Yamanaka could answer."

"Really? Then how come the Haruno girl managed to also answer those correctly?" Minato rebuted, trying to suppress a grin.

"Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Why didn't you place Sasuke with Shikamaru? I thought you were beginning to assert your authority, yet you gave in to the demands of the Ino-Shika-Cho?"

"Look Sarutobi-sama, may I remind you that I am Hokage, and I can do away with tradition if necessary. The Ino-Shika-Cho had nothing to do with Sasuke's placement: I just wanted him to be under Kakashi, considering there are only two Sharingan users left in Konoha…and I don't think that your comrade could use his proficiently. And I think that Naruto can learn a few things about Konoha from Sasuke and Sakura."

"Inserting these questions in the test gave me a good excuse to say that I'm continuing the tradition," Minato continued. "The placement of the Ino-Shika-Cho's children was merely a convenient side effect of this manoeuvre."

Hiruzen frowned at hearing of Minato's reasons and his actions to achieve the end results. It wasn't that he doubted his successor's abilities, but this wasn't the way the retired Kage would have done things.

"Minato," Hiruzen said as he let out a sigh, "I'm beginning to think that you've been spending too much time with Kumo-nin."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You don't have to remind me; I have one living with me at home right now. But I do have to admit that some of their practices are not that bad of an idea."

Hiruzen sighed yet again. Though he the answers he got left him unsatisfied, he supposed that he pretty much got everything he came for this morning. Who would have thought that the return of a twelve-year old boy would cause a paradigm shift in the leadership?

* * *

Sakura gazed at Sasuke with longing eyes as the two of them waited for their sensei and their third teammate inside the empty classroom. Sure, at first, the Haruno was quite annoyed of the fact that the ones they were waiting for were late, with the last of their former classmates having left with someone named Kurenai about an hour ago. But then she realized that she was alone with Sasuke-kun! Who could not resist this opportunity to spend quality time with the boy of her dreams without others bothering them? That Kakashi-sensei and Namikaze-san could take all the time they wanted. Now if she could just get over these nerves of hers.

Unfortunately for Sakura, her blissful daydreaming was interrupted by a loud boy who was apparently arguing with someone in the hallway. Oh how she wished this moment could have lasted much longer!

"Kakashi-nii-chan! Hurry up! We're already late!"

"Why the hurry, Naruto-kun?" A bored voice complained. "Were still two hours early-"

"Which means that we're an hour late in real life!"

Both Sakura's and Sasuke's eyes twitched at overhearing the argument. It seemed that they got a good-for-nothing jounin for their sensei, though it appeared that the Hokage's son knew him well.

"C'mon…can't we loiter around the park for two more hours?"

"No way! Now in we go!"

Suddenly, the door to the classroom exploded into pieces as a grown man was sent flying across the podium. Sasuke's eyes narrowed upon seeing the downed jounin in front of the room. He was that same jounin who caused all that commotion in class months ago. The Uchiha then turned his head towards the door, taking a good look at the Hokage's son whom he hasn't seen in months. The blond was pretty much wearing that same outfit he was wearing when he paid the class a visit, complete with sword, though the said boy was now wearing a new but slightly-used forehead protector on his head.

"I hate you, you know Naruto?" The jounin muttered.

"Yeah, Kakashi-nii-chan, I love you too." Naruto replied.

Kakashi took his time to stand up, collecting himself and brushing off any unwanted dust from his clothes. He then turned to the two kids who were waiting in the room, giving them an appraising look.

"So, you must be Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura."

"Y-yes, we are!" Sakura spoke up.

Sasuke just remained silent.

"Alright you three, meet me at the-"

"You just want to play hookey again, don't you, Kakashi-nii-chan?" Naruto accused. "We're staying here! Besides, there's no one else in the school right now."

"Fine, fine, Naruto," Kakashi answered back. "Just go take a seat somewhere."

Naruto then proceeded to the teacher's desk and sat on the table, facing the two graduates. Kakashi took this time to formally greet the team.

"Alright you three, welcome to Team Kakashi. Now let's begin by introducing ourselves. And since Naruto's so eager to get here, why don't you get things started?"

"You're the freaking team leader!" Naruto shot back. "Why don't you set an example and introduce yourself to those two first!"

Sasuke groaned at the seemingly blatant disrespect the Hokage's son had been showing their sensei, acting as if he were some hot shot. Was this even the same dignified boy who paid them a visit months ago?

"Mah, mah, you're really way too demanding, Naruto," Kakashi complained. "Very well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes, and what I do in my spare time are none of your concern. As for my dream, well, I doubt you'd want to hear it."

"Umm, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura spoke, "all we learned was your name."

"Porn, getting porn destroyed, and reading more porn," Naruto filled in. "And he wants to be Ero-sennin's assistant editor/researcher."

"Naruto…shut up." Kakashi said, glaring back at the blond. "Now your turn."

"I am Namikaze Naruto – Son of the Yondaime Hokage and proud jinchu- OUCH! What the hell was that for, Kakashi-nii-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, being interrupted by a piece of chalk in between the eyes.

"You know that information is classified." Kakashi said as he scolded Naruto, earning him a curious look from Sakura and Sasuke.

"And they are my teammates!" Naruto yelled back. "They're going to figure things out sooner or later anyway! I might as well tell them now so they know what they're dealing with."

"In due time, Naruto." Kakashi sagely replied. "Now continue."

"Yeah, in due time…as soon as this team becomes official, hehehe," Naruto muttered under his breath before continuing. "Now, before I was rudely interrupted, my name's Naruto. I like Otousan, Kakashi-nii-chan when he's not being a prick, Bee-ojisan, and my friends back in Kumo. And oh yeah, food. I don't like Ero-sennin and creepy girls. My hobbies…I like playing video games with my friends and eating lots of delicious food. Yeah, especially _gyudon_ and _takoyaki_, hehehe…" Naruto paused with a mischievous laugh.

* * *

At a cavern inside a cave in Unraikyo, a pair of shaded lenses glowed in the dark as the creature suddenly began leaking frightening amounts of demonic chakra.

"Hey Eight-O…I have the sudden urge to kill something today!"

"**Me too, Bee,"** Hachibi replied. **"Me too."**

* * *

"Anyways, my dream is to have good friends and be happy here in Konoha, be a competent shinobi, and perhaps, even be a Kage."

Sasuke and Sakura both looked at Naruto after giving his introduction. They both (along with the rest of their class) still shared the misunderstanding that he was kidnapped by Kumo, so they couldn't figure why he would have friends there. Perhaps he was brainwashed. While Sasuke plotted to question Naruto to learn more about Kumo techniques, Sakura resolved to help Naruto-kun recover from his 'imprisonment' and get him re-adjusted back to Konoha society.

"Thank you, Naruto," the jounin said. "Now you, Sakura"

"Oh, my name is Haruno Sakura. My likes are-" she paused, before looking at Sasuke and squealing. "I hate Ino-buta! My hobbies are…" Again, Sakura glanced at Sasuke and squealed. "And my dreams are…"

Alright, now Sakura was blissfully lost in a daydream. The three males couldn't help but shudder at what the young girl may be thinking.

"Oi, Haruno," as Naruto asked the girl. "Are you one of those creepy girls?"

"Shut up!" Sakura yelled back, before regaining her composure and continuing in an apologetic tone. "Ah, sorry about that. What did you mean by creepy girls, Naruto-kun?"

"Anyways," Kakashi interrupted before the situation got worse. "Let's finally hear from Sasuke."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There's not a lot of things I like and tonnes of things I dislike. It's not really much of a dream…more of an ambition. To resurrect my clan…and to kill a certain man."

Kakashi frowned upon hearing Sasuke's second goal in life. Yes, it was somewhat expected. Anyone would want to seek justice or vengeance against people who wronged them. However, in light of what was revealed by that damned book from Kumo, this just got a hell of a lot more complicated. He just hoped that Nar-

"Hey, hey, let me guess! You want to kill Mad-"

"Naruto!" Kakashi chastised the blond.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Kakashi-nii-chan." Naruto replied. "In due time."

"Itachi," Sasuke growled in response to Naruto's inquiry. "I swear I will kill Itachi!"

This time, it was Naruto's turn to visually express his displeasure at hearing Uchiha's ambitions, though his displeasure was directed more towards Konoha's leadership. He didn't know? Why didn't they tell the poor kid what really happened?

"Moving on," Kakashi interrupted, "tomorrow, we shall start with a final assessment to determine whether you are truly fit to be genin or not."

Needless to say, Sasuke and Sakura were shocked at this announcement.

"Wait…what?" Sakura complained, confused as to what Kakashi has just said. "We already passed our final exams in the Academy. We even have our forehead protectors already! Aren't we already genin?"

"Correction, Haruno," Naruto cut in, "the two of you are still genin-candidates. I believe I'm the only genin in this group so far. I'm surprised that you've already been given your forehead protectors at this stage. Anyways, you have to jump through whatever hoops Kakashi-nii-chan set out to be promoted." As Naruto finished his explanation, he wondered out loud. "Now that I think about it, does that make me your senpai?"

"Naruto," Kakashi chided, "there's no need to pour salt on their wounds…yet."

A visible scrowl appeared on Sasuke's face as he heard of this assessment Kakashi had in store for them. He had been working hard these past years to get this far and come one more step closer to his ultimate goal. But now, this one-eyed scarecrow just gave him a roadblock that could throw his plans off its tracks.

"We meet at the North Training Grounds 2 tomorrow morning at 0700h. The details are printed in this handout." Kakashi then gave the handouts to Sasuke and Sakura, before finishing off with a warning. "And a word of advice. Skip breakfast – you'll only throw up."

With that, Kakashi made his way towards the doorway to head who knows where. Naruto, still seated on the teacher's desk, looked at Sasuke and Sakura, wondering what they could do for the rest of the day.

"So, Uchiha, Haruno, you guys wanna come over to my place and play video games? I have the latest version of-"

"Do you think this is the time for games, Naruto-san?" Sasuke replied with an irritated voice. "You may be off scott-free, but I still have to train for Kakashi's test tomorrow."

Sasuke then proceeded to walk out of the room, presumably to train at home. Naruto now found himself alone in the room with Sakura. After looking around, the Hokage's son ended up looking at Sakura eye-to-eye. Boy would it be awkward if the girl said yes at this point.

"Actually, Naruto-kun, I think I should go train too. Sorry about that…maybe next time. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya."

Somewhere deep inside Naruto was thankful that Sakura said no this time, not wishing to give Ero-sennin any more 'inspiration' for his dirty works should he be around. As Sakura left the room, Naruto wondered what he should do with all this free time. Oh well, he might as well go to the Broadcast Centre and see if Tenga-nii is on shift in Kumo right now.

* * *

The cherry blossoms were blooming in the trees on this cool late-March morning in North Training Grounds 2 of Konoha. The rising sun began to bathe the clearings with its light as it rose further up with the passing of time. The place was full of life at this time of year. Birds were singing, bees going flower to flower gathering nectar, squirrels mating, and two sleepy twelve-year olds waiting beneath one of the cherry trees.

So what if Kakashi-sensei and Naruto-kun were late? Sakura was once again alone with Sasuke, this time in a somewhat more secluded place. Hungry and tired, she couldn't muster enough energy to ask her object of affection for a date, so she might as well consider this moment to be one.

As Sakura leaned on Sasuke's shoulder pretending to sleep, the boy couldn't help but shudder at the girl's antics. Far from impressed by the weakness he thought Sakura was showing him, the Uchiha wondered what he sorts of wrong he had done for the gods to conspire against him like this. He just hoped that Kakashi would come soon and get this evaluation over with.

Soon enough, Sasuke's prayers were answered when he heard two people bickering from far away.

"Kakashi-nii-chan, hurry up! We're already late, you sleepy head!"

"C'mon, Naruto, we're still two hours early. Can't I just go back to bed and sleep?"

"You freaking told them 0700h; it's already eight in the morning!"

Sasuke and Sakura were soon greeted by the sight of Naruto dragging Kakashi by the collar on their way to the training grounds. Again, Sasuke was far from impressed by his teacher. Hokage's son or not, how could a mere genin just throw a jounin around just like that?

Once the duo finally arrived, Kakashi got up, dusted himself off, and greeted the two genin-cadidates.

"Good morning, Sasuke, Sakura. I trust the two of you have prepared yourselves for this assessment."

As Sasuke and Sakura nodded at Kakashi's comment, Naruto frowned at the disheveled state of the two graduates. What sort of competent ninja would train and tire themselves out the night before an important mission?

Before continuing with his instructions, Kakashi took a small bell out of his pocket and showed it before Sasuke and Sakura.

"Your objective is to get this bell from me before noon. You may use any technique or weapons against me to get this bell. The person who fails to get this bell will be tied to that post at noon, and will be sent back to the Academy."

"W-what?" Sakura protested. "We weren't told of this! I don't want to be sent back to Academy!"

"Yeah, Kakashi-nii-chan," Naruto concurred. "Why send them back to the Academy and waste their time there when they could just do D-ranked missions without pay?"

"Naruto," Kakashi replied, "you're not in Kumo anymore. This is the way Kono-"

"That's it, I'm joining them!"

"Naruto, stay out of this. This is a test to evaluate _them_, not you. Why don't you sit somewhere and…well, take notes?"

"Fine, Kakashi-nii-chan." Naruto pouted as he jumped onto a tree branch and leaned against the trunk to make his observations.

Kakashi turned to look at the fresh graduates, who were waiting for his next instructions.

"Whenever you are ready, you may begin."

Sasuke and Sakura quickly disappeared from the clearing as Kakashi's final assessment began.

* * *

**NB **- Kumo Broadcast Network

Alright, somebody asked how on earth there could be 'internet' in the world of Naruto. A legitimate question, so here's a brief synopsis on how it works.

If your thinking of internet in the 2011 sense of free flow of information, computers in every home, websites, Wikipedia, ff-net, YouTube, FarceBook, and all sorts of things, then it does not exist...at least until Kishi tells us so. However, if it's internet in the 1960's sense of a restricted-access network whose sole purpose was to relay information to select military bases, universities, and government offices in America? Viva Kumo!

And the past few chapters should give you a clue on how Kumo's Network works: Entirely primitive and wireless. Not really meant for playing games, although you can if you're that desparate...


	9. Genin Candidates

Hello everyone! I didn't realize I've already hit the 40,000 word mark. So that explains the sudden jump in readership... Anyways, just to give you a heads-up that after 5 years of loyal service, my laptop just croaked on me, so expect some delays in the next chapter as I try to salvage my old hard drive (which contains a good chunk of the next chapter).

In other news, thank the heavens for Google Docs.

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

IX: Genin-Candidates

Sitting on the branch of a tall maple tree overlooking the clearing, Naruto munched away eating breakfast as he held a rice bowl topped with _natto_ with his left hand. So far over the past two hours, nothing happened. Kakashi-nii-chan spent the whole time standing on the clearing reading one of Ero-sennin's dirty works, while Uchiha and Haruno were out there hiding and moving around out of sight with apparently no plans in mind. No one has yet dared to make a move, perhaps as a result of over-analyzing the situation and fear of failure. Yes, this was a simulation of a high-stakes situation and one must proceed carefully before acting, but if Uchiha and Haruno did nothing, they would fail anyways.

The tranquility of the park-like setting of the training grounds was broken by a quiet rustling among the bushes below.

"KATON: GOKAKYU NO JUTSU!" (Great Fireball Technique)

Naruto leaned forward as Sasuke produced a ball of fire from his mouth, enlarging it with this breath, and sending the fireball towards a standing Kakashi. The jounin was soon engulfed in flames as the fireball slammed onto the ground, creating a small impact crater.

Finally, after two boring hours, things were getting interesting. Using his chopsticks, Naruto shoved another mouthful of rice and beans into his mouth as the action below began to unfold.

* * *

Sasuke huffed and puffed in frustration as he saw the smouldering remains of a log right before him. That lazy pervert just performed a Kawarimi on him, making him waste his chakra on some harmless inanimate object. The boy looked around for any signs of the teacher. Not to the left. Not to the right. And up there in the tree was Naruto looking back at him while eating breakfast.

Sasuke's stomach growled upon seeing that bowl of rice being eaten by the Hokage's son. Why that brat! He hadn't eaten breakfast just as Kakashi told them, and now that boy was shoving food in his face right in front of him. He'd be damned if he'll fail this test just because he was hungry!

"Oi, Uchiha," Naruto called him out. "Don't tell me you actually fell for Kakash-nii-chan's trick and didn't eat breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you know? Back in Kumo, we used to-"

"Shut up, Naruto. I don't have time for this."

Suddenly, Sasuke's feet were knocked under him, causing the Uchiha to painfully land on his back. Quickly rolling to his side, he narrowly avoided being stomped further into the ground by Kakashi. Righting himself by kneeling on one knee, Sasuke reached for his holster and drew his kunai in anticipation of Kakashi's next move.

"Mah, mah, Sasuke-kun," Kakashi said as he began his analysis. "I'd say I'm impressed that you're able to do Katon – Gyoyakyu at your age. However, you still have a lot of work to do before you reach my level."

That's it! He was tired of everyone belittling him, making him look like some new rookie who knew nothing. He won't be put down. He won't be sent back. He'll prove that he deserved to be part of Konoha's elite, not just to be lumped along with a bunch of weaklings.

Sasuke sprung up and charged at Kakashi, aiming to thrust the kunai into Kakashi's stomach. The teacher said he could use any techniques or weapons at his disposal, so aiming to kill was fair game, right? As he got within a step from Kakashi, Kakashi simply stepped aside, grabbed Sasuke's collar, and slammed him into a nearby tree, knocking him unconscious.

"That's cheap, you know Kakashi-nii-chan?" Naruto commented. "Using me as a distraction…"

"Hey, I thought you liked the Kumo way of doing things."

"I didn't say I don't approve," Naruto responded with a smirk, "I'm just saying you're cheap."

"Sheesh, is there nothing that pleases you, Naruto?"

* * *

Sakura tripped and stumbled along as she tried to get away from the clearing as quickly as she could. She thought this test would be easy, seeing how Naruto-kun could manhandle Kakashi-sensei just like that. But then, seeing how sensei easily dispatched of Sasuke-kun, the number one in the class (alright, number two…no thanks to Ino-buta) she suddenly felt that she could no longer fight him alone anymore. Frightened by the way things turned out, she could only hope that an opening would present itself lest she be sent back to Academy.

But wait a minute. If she did somehow get that bell and pass this test, then that would mean that Sasuke-kun would be sent back to Academy. A veil of gloom fell upon Sakura as she realized that doing so would not only separate her from her beloved, but also earn her Sasuke's everlasting wrath. If Sasuke-kun did pass, then it would be _her_ who would be sent back. And if they both failed, then yeah, they would be together, but Sasuke's going to hate her forever for being a hinderence.

Sakura covered face with both hands as she tried to come to grips on her dilemma. Oh how she wished there was a way for both of them to pass!

Suddenly, she saw a swirl of leaves fluttering around her, as if a sudden gust of wind has just blown. Feeling somewhat lightheaded, she looked around, hoping that Kakashi-sensei hadn't caught up to her.

"Sakura…"

Sakura turned around at the voice. He actually came for her! It seemed that Sasuke-kun's alright…or was he?

* * *

"GYYAAAAAAA‼"

Naruto turned to look at the source of the scream about a hundred metres west from where he was seated. It seemed like Kakashi-nii-chan caught up with Haruno and cast a genjutsu on her. He wondered what sorts of horrors Kakashi had in store for her for the girl to scream like that. Oh well, at least the graduates were getting a brief glimpse of real ninja life right now.

As Naruto tipped the rice bowl and shovel the last morsels of rice and beans into his mouth, he saw Uchiha stirring about as the dark-haired boy regained consciousness. Groaning in pain, Sasuke looked towards the source of the scream where Sakura was.

"Sakura…" Naruto heard Sasuke mumble. "If she screamed over there, then Kakashi's there…"

Naruto watched as Sasuke limped his way into the bushes, presumably towards the scene of the 'battle'. The Namikaze kinda felt bad that he distracted Uchiha a moment ago and causing this predicament, so he might as well stay in his spot. Besides, the last thing the Uchiha probably wanted was for Naruto to act as Kakashi's personal beacon.

On second thought, since Kakashi-nii-chan was already messing with them, Naruto might as well join in on the fun…without taking an 'active' part in the event, of course.

* * *

"Urgh…what happened?"

Sakura groggily opened her eyes as she struggled to get her bearings straight. Where was she? Why was she in the middle of the forest? Why was she unconscious?

Then she remembered: She and Sasuke-kun were in the middle of a test to try and take that bell from Kakashi-sensei. This was impossible! How were they supposed to even take on a jounin? The last thing she remembered was that horrible and bloody sight of Sasuke-kun pierced with kunai, senbon, and shuriken all over his body.

She looked around for Sasuke, hoping he was still alright and strong enough to continue the test. While still lying on the ground, she found herself face-to-face with Sasuke…whose bloody head was upright relative to the ground…with his body nowhere in sight.

She fainted.

Sasuke could only groan in frustration as he watched his supposed teammate knocked back into dreamland. He only had around half an hour to go to get that bell, but there he was stuck with the rest of his body immobilized in the ground, while the girl whom he was counting on to dig him out was beginning to drool and froth at her mouth.

* * *

"Ooh, _katsudon_!"

Sasuke and Sakura could only hungrily watch as Naruto happily dug into the big bowl of rice and breaded pork and began devouring it. Kakashi, the primary source of the graduates' irritation (and shame), did his part by wafting the smell of the delicious meal into their noses, before turning back and began eating the bowl himself.

Yup, as punishment for not completing the task, both Sasuke and Sakura were tied at a cut-down tree trunk side-by-side as they watched the two shinobi eat. For Sakura, a great sense of shame fell upon her. Shame for the dried-up drool on the side of her face. Shame for the way she horribly failed the test. Shame for not being a ninja. Shame for causing Sasuke-kun to be held back a year.

For Sasuke, though, a different emotion was brewing within him: Anger. Angry at himself for being too weak. Angry at his brother for taking everything away. And angry at Konoha for holding him back.

"I won't be held back…" Sasuke grumbled.

"What was that, Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi asked.

"I said you're not holding me back!" Sasuke yelled. "You will not prevent me from being a ninja! You will not prevent me from gaining strength! You will not stop me from taking my rightful vengeance and killing Itachi!"

"Sasuke," Kakashi sternly replied, "being a strong ninja means keeping your emotions in check no matter what the situation is. And from the way you're acting now, I see that you're not cut out to be one."

"Then release me and fight me!"

"And get your ass kicked again, Uchiha?" Naruto quipped. "Seriously, Kakashi-nii-chan, Uchiha is beginning to get psychotic here. Isn't it time someone told him the truth?"

"Truth?" Sasuke seethed with his teeth grinding, realizing that things were being kept away from him. "What truth?"

"Naruto," Kakashi warned, "you were told that is an S-ranked secret!"

"S-ranked secret my ass! Uchiha here has a 60 per cent chance of going missing-nin, and all you're concerned about is keeping a secret?"

"And you may reveal it to him in due time."

"When?" Naruto questioned. "Was that lecture you gave them about teamwork just a bunch of crap? Seriously, you expected two random people to be mashed together, then presto, instant teamwork overnight? Even in Kumo, it takes years for teammates to work together seamlessly."

"Naruto, this is not about Kumo-"

"Your right, this is about teamwork. And how can you have that without trust? You don't trust Uchiha to act properly when told of this?"

"Naruto, that's enough-"

Kakashi was suddenly interrupted courtesy of a good kick in the groin from Naruto. While clutching his tender regions in immense pain, Naruto proceeded to lightly tap the base of Kakashi's neck with two fingers and ran a small jolt of electricity into it, causing the jounin to fall flat on the ground paralyzed. Well, at least the pain is gone…for now.

"Naruto! Put a sock on it! Your father will not be happy about this!"

Naruto grinned as he heard of Kakashi's 'suggestion'.

"Did you say 'put a sock' in it?"

Kakashi's eyes widened as he realized what Naruto was about to do. Naruto held the jounin's feet, took his socks off, before unmasking the one-eyed scarecrow.

"Naruto, no, you cant- Mmpf! Mmpf!"

With the socks shoved into his mouth, Naruto put Kakashi's mask back on to secure the gag. As he watched Kakashi struggle, he turned to look back at the two graduates.

"Now," Naruto muttered out loud, "where were we?"

* * *

"Standing deferred."

Minato's raised his brow as he heard the outcome of Kakashi's evaluation of his genin team. Kakashi was standing before him, apparently from some discomfort around his sensitive area. The Hokage rubbed his head and sighed, as he could only think of one reason why one of his elite jounin was disheveled like that.

"What did Naruto do now for you to delay judgment?"

"During the test itself, nothing. Sasuke and Sakura did not succeed in getting the bell nor did they exhibit any signs of teamwork. However, after much protest and arguing from Naruto and a lot of time to think about it…in the hospital…I've decided to give Naruto's suggestion a try and have Uchiha and Haruno do D-ranked missions without pay until they're deemed worthy of a promotion."

"Sheesh," as Minato slapped his own head in frustration, "how many times do I have to tell him he's no longer in Kumo? So you're planning to play along with this, Kakashi?"

"Actually, sensei, there's one more thing you should know about…" Kakashi meekly continued.

The space between Minato's fingers opened up slightly to reveal a helpless eye looking back at his remaining student.

"Kakashi, don't tell me my son told him…"

The jounin could only watch as the Hokage buried his face in the desk and clutched his hair out of frustration.

* * *

"I never expected to find you here, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke, crouched down on the ground, turned around and looked up to see Kakashi standing behind him. Briefly acknowledging his team leader with a nod, he turned back to look at the object that had been the subject of his attention the past hour: A flat slab of rock with the names of people who died for Konoha engraved on it. Sasuke slid his finger to around the time when the Massacre occurred, and no matter how many times he looked at it, he only saw one name that came from his clan: Uchiha Kagami.

"Sensei," Sasuke spoke in a low voice, "the rest of them deserve to be remembered too."

"Let's leave that decision for the Hokage," Kakashi replied. "Believe me, until recently, he was as in the dark about this incident as you were."

Kakashi proceeded to join Sasuke, and let his finger glide along the names of those who died during the Third Shinobi War. Sasuke brow rose as he watched the jounin's finger stop at a name whom he had never heard of: Uchiha Obito.

"Sasuke, Naruto has told you of very sensitive information that could harm Konoha's reputation should word of it leak out in public. He thought you deserved to know this information, and trusted you to do the right thing."

As Kakashi paused, Sasuke looked at the jounin and nodded in acknowledgement. Kakashi then lifted the forehead protector that covered his left eye, revealing something that the Uchiha thought was gone in Konoha since that bloody night.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke with his Sharingan eye as he continued. "In his dying wish, my teammate, Obito, entrusted me this eye to replace the one that I lost during the battle. He did so knowing that I would defend Konoha with it, and not misuse it and have it turned against your clan who have ignored him."

Kakashi paused yet again as he slid his forehead protector back over his Sharingan eye. He watched as the Uchiha went through a million thoughts in his tumultuous mind.

The jounin coughed to gain the boy's attention, hoping to warn him of the consequences should he proceed with his previous path.

"Sasuke, are you aware of any missing-nin or S-ranked criminal who originated from Kumo?"

The boy frowned as the thought of any names that popped in his mind, before shaking his head in the negative. Besides, what does a criminal from Kumo had to do with this anyways?

"Well," Kakashi continued, "ever wondered what happened to those from Kumo who did betray their village?"

Killed right away. Kumo was portrayed as a ruthless and vicious village during their lessons in Academy (and incidentally, Kumo actually endorsed and cultivated that reputation), so it probably didn't matter to them if the enemy were from outside or within; they were dealt with the same way. Sasuke brows furrowed as he put was able to put the clues together and see where Kakashi was heading with this.

"I highly suggest that you don't betray Naruto's trust," Kakashi warned. "As you're aware by now, he grew up and was raised in Kumo, and he still acts as if he's still in Kumo. Kumo-nin don't take too kindly to traitors, and the moment you turn your back from Konoha, I'm sure Naruto won't hesitate to kill you."

As Sasuke ground his teeth thinking about what Kakashi has told him, the jounin stood up to conclude his talk with Sasuke and visit to Obito.

"Sasuke, we meet tomorrow at 0800h at the bridge two hundred metres west of here. You will start your first mission together as a team."

"So, we passed?" Sasuke asked.

"Not yet," Kakashi replied. "Thanks to Naruto, it seems that you and Sakura will go through this the way they do it in Kumo."

With that, Kakahi left, leaving Sasuke alone once again with his thoughts.

* * *

"Otousan, what does babysitting some brat have to do with being a ninja?"

Minato's eye twitched as his ears were bombarded with yet another round of complaints from his son. Sure, during the first few months, he was glad that Naruto was finally back in his true home in Konoha. But as time passed, he was subjected to the unpleasant reminder of how irritating Kushina got when they were genin. The Hokage let out a sigh as he wondered how the Raikage, Shi and Nii dealt with the boy for twelve years without going insane.

"Naruto," Minato sternly replied, "the boy your team will be babysitting is not just some random kid. He's Sandaime-sama's grandson, Konohamaru."

"And where's that guy's normal babysitter? What's his name again? Ebisu-san?"

One of the Hokage's veins in the forehead throbbed as the loudmouth referred to one of his jounin as a babysitter. While the father and son continued to bicker, Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke just watched at the sidelines in the Hokage's Office, wondering that the big deal was. Sure, it kinda annoyed the three for them to do demeaning work the past few weeks, but part of being a ninja included doing something that one may not necessarily like. And considering the position Sasuke and Sakura were in, they were not really in any position cherry-pick their way through this.

"Look, I've already sent Ebisu on a mission," Minato continued. "Besides, your teammates are not even official ninja yet! Even if I want to, I can't really give you a more difficult mission until Kakashi thinks that Sasuke and Sakura are ready to be genin."

Kakashi's visible eye perked up upon hearing the Hokage's explanation. He spoke up, eager to finally break this routine of sheer monotony.

"Actually Minato-sensei, I've seen improvements from both of them in terms of skill and teamwork over the past few weeks. I think it's time for us to revisit their status and see what they're capable of."

"Are you sure about this, Kakashi?" Minato skeptically replied. "I hope you're not just saying this to get out of doing low D-ranked missions."

The Hokage then turned to look at Sasuke and Sakura, sizing them up and see if they were indeed ready for this. With the village leader's gaze turned on them, Sakura shifted slightly out of nervousness, while Sasuke just stood there with his arms folded.

"Y-yes, Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked.

"I want to hear it from you yourself. Are you ready to be a ninja of Konohagakure no Sato, to do all the duties and bear all the responsibilities associated with it?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Sakura chirped.

"And you, Sasuke?"

"Yes."

Minato sighed once again at the genin-candidates' replies. It looked like the two of them wanted to be genin—well, who wouldn't? Before he could complain to the gods of this troublesome situation, his eye caught a glimpse of an unfurled scroll that had been lying on his desk for a few weeks now. He had been meaning to get someone to do this, but somehow, something else always came up to displace it way down the priority list.

"Very well then," Minato resumed. "I think I have something just for the two of you."

The Hokage pointed at the scroll, and motioned for the genin-candidates to come forward and take it. As Team Kakashi approached the desk, Sasuke grabbed a hold of the scroll and read it as the other three looked on.

"Quality Assurance Check – Konoha Library and Archives"

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other quizzically, wondering what this specific mission entailed. Meanwhile, Naruto was practically salivating at the prospect of some excitement after being bored for the past few weeks.

"In this mission, the two of you will evaluate the state of security at the mentioned location." Minato explained. "From the way Naruto has been doing these types of missions, you will act as if you were an enemy ninja, infiltrating the location and exposing all the weaknesses you may find in the system. After you're done, you will report back and give me and the ninja charged to the place a detailed description of what they did right, and areas where we can improve things."

"Wait a minute, only the two of them? What about me?" Naruto complained.

"Naruto, everyone already assumes that you're after them whenever they see you around." Minato said. "Besides, this will be their genin-enabling mission. You and Kakashi will be evaluating Sakura and Sasuke, while they will be evaluating the people guarding the Library and Archives."

Minato then looked at Sasuke and Sakura to finish off.

"Should your performance in this mission be deemed satisfactory, you shall be given the rank of genin and be paid accordingly for this C-ranked mission. You may consult Naruto of your plans, but he may not give you any ideas on how to proceed. Any questions?"

Naruto frowned, unhappy that he will be missing out on all the fun that Uchiha and Haruno will be having. And a quality assurance check isn't really a pass/fail situation (in the sense that it's impossible to fail this mission short of not doing it), so he wondered how he would determine if his teammates are ready to be promoted. Oh well, this beat babysitting that brat anytime.

* * *

"Wow, Sasuke-kun. I can't believe we're able to go this far in."

Sakura and Sasuke tiptoed their way further into the restricted-access portion of Konoha Library, looking left and right to evade the guards on duty who were walking around the hallways. At first, they tried the 'hiding in plain sight' approach, casually walking through the initial checkpoint as if they had any business being there. That worked, though Sakura feared that might not earn them a promotion since, in a sense, they were entitled to be there to begin with. Then came the hard part, sneaking around through the air ducts keeping their chakra levels low to avoid being detected. Still, for some odd reason, it felt that the entire ordeal so far was way too easy.

The two genin-candidates now reached the inner sanctum of the library where A-class and S-class information were kept. Surprisingly, the door to that room was wide open, possibly indicating that someone was inside at the moment. Proceeding slowly and carefully, Sasuke and Sakura looked around to see who was in there.

Of all their luck, why did it have to be the Sandaime Hokage who was in that room! So far, the retired Kage immersed himself reading a small scroll. Sakura turned to her teammate to consult the next course of action they should take. It alarmed the girl to see Sasuke frowning with a piercing glare at the elder trembling to keep his rage in check.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered, "y-you don't want to fail this test, do you?"

Sasuke took in a deep breath upon hearing the girl, trying to focus his mind on the task at hand. He can't fail right now. He won't give that geezer the satisfaction of dishonouring the name of Uchiha ever again!

While the Sandaime was distracted with the scroll, Sasuke and Sakura slowly made their way into the room, lightly treading-

Creak…

"Sasuke-kun, Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?" The retired Kage looked up and asked the two kids. "Aren't you supposed to be taking care of Konohamaru?" Sarutobi then frowned as he realized something. "For that matter, how on earth did the two of you get all the way here?"

Sasuke and Sakura turned to look at each other, now wondering what to do in their current predicament.

* * *

Sakura was fuming mad. Of all the things they could have done, why on earth did Sasuke-kun have to remember that story of Sandaime-sama which Naruto had told them? She didn't know what she was angrier at: Sasuke-kun stripping her naked, or Naruto's depiction of the Sandaime turning out to be true! But, if it were just her and Sasuke-kun all alone in that room, and if he asked nicely, then maybe…

She shook her head as she discarded that thought. The point was that the old man saw her in such a shameful state, and she will not forgive him for being a pedophile! And it didn't help her train of thought that she witnessed her beloved gracelessly beat and kick the old man around while he was down and unconscious. Yes, Sasuke-kun's actions were understandable in light of his circumstances, but it wasn't exactly the prettiest of sights she has ever witnessed.

"Uchiha Sasuke! Haruno Sakura! Show yourselves and surrender, before you feel the full brunt of our force!"

About ninety minutes has passed they made their escape from the library, managing to take off with biggest scroll they could find in the room. They ended up holing themselves up in one of the vacant apartments around Naruto-kun's neighbourhood. She was sure that many chunin and jounin were deployed in their pursuit, and it scared the girl that they were prepared to use deadly force to deal with them. How were they going to explain that Hokage-sama himself authorized this?

Sakura turned to look at the corner of the room, where Sasuke sat cross-legged reading the contents of the scroll. Well, both of them were at first surprised they were able to open the scroll so easily. Even more disturbing for Konoha's security was that the scroll's contents were perfectly legible, which could have allowed the enemies to just copy its contents. However, they were already in enough trouble as they were, and they didn't need to compound the situation by stretching the scope of this mission.

"Um, Sasuke-kun," a concerned Sakura asked. "Are you sure we're allowed to read what's in that scroll?"

"Can you keep quiet for a bit, Sakura." Sasuke replied. "I think I just figured out the mechanics of this jutsu."

Sakura looked around nervously in reaction to the boy's response. Was this even part of the mission? The information in the scroll was deemed A or S-classed for a good reason!

Suddenly, the apartment door leading outside burst open, revealing at least two dozen angry-looking chunin and jounin with their weapons drawn. Sakura stepped back and found herself leaning against the wall, fearing that the worst of all outcomes may happen.

"Alright, you kiddies," a jounin condescendingly addressed them, "why don't the two of you be a good boy and girl, hand the scroll over, and come with us? And maybe we can just forget about the scroll incident, and charge you with just assaulting Sandaime-sama."

Sasuke stood, taking one step forward to face off against the platoon of ninjas before them. Sakura, now trembling, tried to dissuade the boy from doing something foolish.

"Sasuke-kun, w-what are you doing? Y-you can't take on all of them…"

"Meh," Sasuke shrugged, "I just want to try something."

"Oh yeah," the jounin answered back. "Let's see what you can do."

Sasuke immediately formed a peculiar hand seal with the index and middle fingers from both hands crossed. The mob tensed as Sasuke gathered the chakra to execute the jutsu.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A solid clone in the exact likeness of the Uchiha suddenly popped into existence beside Sasuke. The impromptu jounin leader frowned upon seeing the kid do such a jutsu. For a moment, Sakura's eyes gleamed with admiration of Sasuke-kun being a hero in front of her.

As the chunin and jounin were about to make their move, the clone unexpectedly popped out of existence. Exactly one second later, Uchiha Sasuke passed out.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Alright everyone, playtime's over!"

It was at this time that Kakashi and Naruto made their appearance, appearing in front of Sasuke and Sakura in a flurry of leaves and a cloud of mist respectively.

"Naruto," Kakashi ordered, "why don't you take Sasuke-kun to the hospital and have him treated for chakra exhaustion?"

"Wait, Kakashi-senpai," the lead jounin complained, "They just stole the Scroll of Seals and-"

"Exactly," Kakashi replied with a smirk under his mask. "The rest of you will be coming with me and Sakura-chan to the Hokage's Office where we'll have a nice long chat on how miserably you all performed this afternoon."

The ragtag group looked at each other in confusion before realizing something. Damn it! This was one of those inspections that Hokage-sama has been obsessed about lately! And it seemed that this time, he hired a couple of kids instead of his son to do his bidding.

As the mob made their way to the Hokage's Office with their heads hung down humiliated, Sakura just wondered whether Sasuke-kun will be alright.

* * *

**PS **Well, that's the ninth chapter! Once again, I've cut a scene out of this chapter since it ruined the pace of the story. But aside from a few details that diverges from canon, you guys should pretty much know what this 'secret' is all about by now.

Thanks for reading! 'Till next time!

* * *

Cut Scene: Rogue Uchiha

"Mmpf! MMPF‼"

"Now, where were we?"

As Kakashi struggled in his futile attempt to verbally stop Naruto, Sasuke looked back at Naruto, somewhat furious at what Konoha had done to him so far. Well, he's about to get a whole lot angrier...

"The truth they were hiding from me." Uchiha stated.

"Ah that," Naruto started as he took a yellow book out from his sleeve and waved it around. "You see, it all started twelve years ago on the night when I was born."

"Naruto," Sasuke interrupted while glaring back at the storyteller. "What does your birth have to do with this?"

"MMPF‼ MMPF‼"

"You'll see, Uchiha." Naruto continued. "Now, my mother was Uzumaki Kushina, known far and wide as the 'Bloody Habanero'. What was _not_ known by all but a select few was that she was the jinchuriki of Kyubi no Yoko."

"J-jinchuriki? K-kyubi?" Sakura stammered back while trembling in the post. "Y-you mean that attack twelve years ago was not a random freak of nature?"

"That's right, Haruno," Naruto acknowledged. "You see, the seal holding Kyu-chan in gets severely weakened when the jinchuriki is under labour from childbirth. And on that night, a man named Uchiha Madara barged in, killed my mother, and released Kyubi to take it back for himself."

"Uchiha Madara…" Sasuke muttered. "Impossible…he's dead!"

"Tsuchikage's still alive, so why not Madara?" Naruto reasoned back. "Anyways, father managed to defeat Madara and drove him out of Konoha, while Ei (the person who would become Yondaime Raikage) and Bee-ojisan managed to seal Kyu-chan, eventually choosing me as its next container."

Both Sasuke's and Sakura's eyes widened upon this revelation. They were lied to all this time! The Hokage didn't defeat Kyubi—the Kumo dignitaries did. And Kyubi wasn't sent to Kumo merely to be disposed of as they were taught. Suddenly, the reason why Naruto was in Kumo the entire time began to make sense to the graduates.

Sakura muttered frightened. "Y-you h-have Kyubi sealed in you? Th-that means Kyubi's back?"

"Yup!" The Jinchuriki chirped. "But don't worry, Kyu-chan's harmless to you while I'm alive. Besides, you'll get to know it better in the future."

"Continuing on with the story, five years ago, the Uchiha Clan fell into a powerful and nearly unbreakable genjutsu. Even you, Uchiha Sasuke, were under this terrible mind-controlling genjutsu. Now Uchiha, care to guess who cast this genjutsu in the first place?"

"Madara?" Sasuke replied as narrowed his eyes upon hearing this new bit of information.

"Correct. Now, under this genjutsu, the clan…well, ultimately Madara conspired to launch a _coup d'état_ and seize power while Otousan was away visiting me in Kumo. Only two of the Uchiha managed to escape this genjutsu: Kagami who was having dinner with his former teammates when the genjutsu was cast, and Itachi, who was away on mission.

"Jay, the Kumo Liaison at the time, informed the Sandaime Hokage that something funny was going on with the Uchiha. The six elders in charge at the time met to discuss what to do, and decided to monitor the situation until father returned.

"Two days later, Uchiha Kagami was found dead. Jay, who was also monitoring the situation, provided conclusive evidence to the five surviving elders that the Uchiha were under genjutsu, and were going to act soon.

"Sarutobi Hiruzen, Akimichi Torifu, Shimura Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura informed your brother of the situation as soon as he returned from his mission. But once it became clear that the point-of-no-return has passed, the elders ordered Itachi to…I quote…'exterminate all impending threats to Konoha'.

Sasuke clenched his fists and grinded his teeth as he took in each and every word that Naruto told him. How dare the Sandaime Hokage lie to him! Why was he—or Konoha for that matter, never told of Madara? Why did the elders resort to killing everyone off? Why was it that out of all people, a person new to Konoha was the one to tell him of all this?

"Uchiha," Naruto continued, "I'm pretty sure your brother tried to break the genjutsu before resorting to what he did. Well, I guess he did break that genjutsu on you when he killed your parents…though I think he broke way more than that."

Naruto then moved to stand before the tied-up Uchiha, looking at him eye-to-eye. Sasuke's brows furrowed as he returned Namikaze's stare at him.

"You said you want to kill Itachi. I think you're after the wrong person. As far as anyone knows, Madara still wants Kyubi, so he _will_ be going after me sometime in the future. If you want vengeance, if you wish to kill Madara, then you may want to hang around me. When he shows up, you and I will be there together to defeat him and bring justice to my mother, all those who died twelve years ago, and to your family and clan whom he used as puppets."

Naruto then unsheathed his sword and sliced the rope binding Uchiha and Haruno to the tree trunk. Freed, the two graduates slid down, sitting at the base of the trunk. As Naruto turned to leave the training grounds, he gave Uchiha one last piece of advice.

"Think about it, Uchiha. Would you rather continue on your previous path, or change course for a better one?"

A deafening silence fell in the grounds as Naruto disappeared into the trees. After a few tense moments, Sasuke got up and stormed out of the field, presumably to contemplate on this huge piece of baggage that was just dumped onto him. As Sakura watched the paralyzed form of Kakashi trying to mumble something to her, she could only wonder what sort of role she would play in all of this.


	10. Bridge Builder

Hey there! It turns out that hacking away at your so-called password-protected profile is really easy. All you have to do is remove the hard drive, plug it into another computer using a USB Port, and presto: You have your files back!

Anyhow, here's the tenth chapter. To the nine hundred or so readers who follow this story, thank you. And if you're from Game Freak or OLM Inc, please don't sue me.

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

X: Bridge Builder

Alone in the kitchen table, Naruto poured re-heated green tea that had been sitting overnight into a mishmash of leftover rice, fish, pickles, shaved seaweed, and a few other things as he lazily prepared his breakfast. As he began eating his _ochazuke_, he wondered what the day had in store for him. His father have left earlier this morning, busy the past few days preparing for something called the Chunin Exams that would be held in the village some weeks from now. Yes, there were a lot of little details that had to be taken of in hosting this event, but Naruto hoped that he wouldn't be stuck doing something as mundane as, say, painting and putting up posters around.

As he finished off the last remaining morsels of food in his bowl, Naruto turned to look at the clock. Quarter after eight in the morning. Sure, he was technically late for the usual meeting, but he knew that the person who had set the appointed time must still be in his bed sleeping. Sighing, he slipped on his overcoat and slung his sword at his back as he made his way out to wake Kakashi-nii-chan up in his apartment. Hopefully, Haruno and Uchiha wouldn't be annoyed when they show up an hour late yet again.

* * *

"Team Kakashi reporting for duty."

Minato looked at the team before him, thinking of a mission that would be appropriate for Sasuke's and Sakura's skill level, yet not so dull that Naruto would yell and complain about. He looked at the list of missions available for the day, noting that most of the 'exciting' D-ranked missions have already been taken by the genin team that came before them. Yes, he knew the circumstances behind his old student's chronic tardiness, but sometimes he just wished Kakashi would revert back to his professional self whenever he's dealing with the young ones.

"Let me see," Minato said as he ran his finger down the list. "Ah, how about this? Why don't you take a stab at retrieving Tora this time?"

"Umm, Minato-sensei, I don't think that mission would be appropriate for this team?" Kakashi replied, taking a side glance at Naruto.

"What do you mean we can't do this mission, Kakash-nii-chan?" Naruto protested, misunderstanding the scope of the mission. "Otousan finally gave us a kick-ass mission, and you're declining it! Why can't we go ahead and capture a loose tiger around?"

"T-tiger?" Sakura stammered, concerned about the apparent 'dangers' associated with this mission.

"Naruto," the Hokage cut in. "'Tora' is not an escaped ferocious tiger—it's the name of the cat belonging to Shijimi-sama, the wife of the daimyo."

"Oh…then Kakashi-nii-chan's right and we don't want this mission."

"Look Naruto," Minato scolded, "You can't just choose and pick your missions as you wish: That's my job! Besides-"

"And I don't want missions that any Academy Student can do. For crying out loud, Uchiha and Haruno are already genin! Can't we do something that's at least ninja-like such as, say, a courier mission or a quality assurance check?"

Sasuke and Sakura deadpanned at yet another sight of the Hokage and his son bickering. They didn't like doing these menial tasks, but deep down inside, they were rooting for Naruto to win the argument this time. Sure, they were getting paid for missions this time, but it's the same boring missions ever since they became genin. They just hoped they didn't end up with something that they could handle.

Meanwhile, Minato took another look at his mission list, this time looking at the C-ranked ones. He knew he had been underutilizing Naruto when he got assigned to this team, so hopefully he could find one that would satisfy his son's demands yet meet Sakura and Sasuke's needs. Finally, his eyes fell on a mission that seemingly had that perfect balance he was looking for.

"I think I found something that would suit you." Minato commented. "Kakashi, why don't you inform the secretary that we have a team ready for Tazuna-san?"

As Kakashi exited the room to retrieve the client, Naruto looked at his father to quiz him on the details of the mission.

"So, what are we going to do for this Tazuna-san that makes this different from the Academy missions you've been giving us?"

Minato sighed once again at Naruto's referral to the D-ranked missions as Academy assignments. Can't the kid just cut him some slack?

"This will be an escort mission. You will be accompanying the client back to his home in Nami no Kuni and make sure he is safe and sound until he gets there."

"So, you're telling me the man went all the way here to Konoha just to be escorted back home?" A skeptical Naruto asked.

"Naruto-kun!" Sakura scolded. "We're finally getting a good mission, and you're still not happy?"

"Actually, Sakura-chan, that's a fair question," Minato replied, as he explained the details of the mission. "The client is a bridge builder, and he went to Hikyo to order some construction materials for his project."

"But why escort him back?" Naruto pressed the question. "He didn't need any help getting here."

"Well…you'll see."

At that moment, the door to the room opened, revealing the jounin sensei and a somewhat burly man in his fifties, with his bespectacled face flushed red and clearly intoxicated with alcohol.

"Sensei, is this-"

"Soooo," the drunkard started, "iiiss this the super-ninja you're giving me to protect me? *hic* I doubt shrimpy there can even fight…"

"The guy's drunk." Sasuke dryly commented.

"As you can see, the client is in no shape to make it back to Nami on his own." Minato continued. "You just have to make sure that he doesn't get lost or fall off the boat or something."

"So, Konoha is now in the business of milking drunk people out of their money to commission a glorified babysitting mission?" Naruto asked, before letting out a grin on his face. "I like it!"

"Who ya callin' baby…" Tazuna slurred, before taking a dirty look at Sakura. "Why don't I take ya home and spend a night there?"

As Sakura took a step back and gave a belch of disgust at Tazuna, the Hokage turned to Kakashi looking for confirmation whether he'll agree to do this mission.

"Look, Sakura," Kakashi stated, "I hate to tell you this, but this is far from the worst thing that you'll encounter in your career as a ninja. So I suggest you overcome your apprehension and get on with this."

"Fine," Sakura replied, "J-just get that old man away from me while on the mission."

"Very well then, I guess there are no objections. Judging from the client's condition, I guess we'll be away for about a week, so why don't the three of you go home, pack up, and meet at the gates in about an hour?"

* * *

"Wow, Sasuke-kun! Isn't the world outside the village walls nice?"

As Sakura continued to pester Sasuke with questions and comments about how they were travelling outside the village for the first time, Naruto was starting to have a severe case of buyer's remorse. Since Haruno wanted to stay as far away from the drunken Tazuna-san (and as close to Uchiha) as possible while Kakashi was out reading his dose of porn, the Namikaze was now stuck guarding the client at his side. Sure, at first he liked the way his father was extorting money out of hapless fools, but now that he's in the situation itself, he felt that he'd rather babysit that Konohamaru brat than put up with the constant rambling from the man from Nami.

"So," Naruto said trying to make small-talk, "what type of bridge are you building?"

Tazuna responded by taking another sip from his seemingly endless supply of sake bottles, causing another one of Naruto's veins to throb on his forehead. Sure, he didn't mind people enjoying a drink or two, but the man was drowning himself with the stuff as if it would just wash all his troubles away."

"When the bridge's done…" Tazuna slurred, "Nami no Kuni will have the best port in the world…"

"Argh! There's no reasoning with this geezer!" Naruto exclaimed. What did building a bridge have to do with having a good port? "That's it! Kakashi-nii-chan, why don't you take your turn in entertaining the client? Maybe you can share Ero-sennin's work with him."

"Yeah, yeah, Naruto. Way to be a diplomat." Kakashi sarcastically replied. "Besides, didn't you want this mission?"

"Let's just switch places, shall we?"

"Fine, Naruto."

And so, the blond switched places with the scarecrow, placing the jinchuriki at the front of the entourage. From the front, Naruto could get a better view of what was ahead of them, from the straight dirt path heading east, to the canopy of leaves and flowers hovering over the road and the surrounding forest. So far, everything's peaceful, from Haruno's attempt to ask Uchiha on a date once they got back home, to Kakashi-nii actually showing the client the contents of that dirty orange book. Yeah, everyone's kinda distracted, but they're ninja, so they could multitask, right?

As the group continued walking, Naruto noticed a small pool of water in the middle of the path. That was weird; it hadn't rained for a while…at least not in Konoha. The blond supposed that it had rained in this part of Hi no Kuni, seeing that they were already a good distance away from Konoha and approaching the sea.

But then, a voice deep inside warned Naruto of impending danger. Not taking any chances, the blond concentrated high-voltage chakra at the soles of his _geta_, before stepping on the puddle and discharging the built-up chakra. Not quite Raiton – Spark, but that ought to do the job.

Nothing happened.

Oh well, maybe he was just being too paranoid, or Kyu-chan was just playing around with him. Uchiha was still ignoring Haruno, Kakashi-nii still reading porn, and Tazuna-san still getting drunk. Everything's fine and there was nothing to worry about. Besides, he's just putting the First Rule of Engagement for Kumo Shinobi into good practice: When in doubt: Overkill!

* * *

"So, Nami no Kuni's on the other side of this strait?"

As a thick fog rolled in the area, Team Kakashi and Tazuna were standing on one of the piers waiting for a boat to come and pick them up. It took the group about four days to get to where they were right now, pretty good considering the constant drunken state of their client. This was the final leg of the journey, and the end of the mission was almost in sight. All they had to do now was drop Tazuna-san home, receive payment for the mission, and head back to Konoha.

But the boat was taking too long to arrive. How long were they waiting now? Forty-five minutes? An hour? You'd think there would be a regular ferry scurrying passengers back and forth along this passage. Perhaps that's why Tazuna-san was building a bridge—if the ferry service were this unreliable, why wouldn't you?

After fifteen more minutes of wating, Naruto has had enough.

"That's it!" Naruto exclaimed. "I can't take this anymore! Why don't we just walk across the strait instead of waiting for that freaking boat?"

Naruto immediately jumped off the pier and onto the waters below. The eyes of Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna bulged out at what the blond just did.

"Naruto-kun!" Sakura yelled. "What are you doing! We can't just swim all the way there!"

Looking at Naruto below the pier, one of Sasuke's brows raised in curiousity as he saw something that he hasn't seen anyone done before.

"Oi, Naruto," Sasuke said. "How on earth are you doing that?"

"Do what?"

"Stand on water?"

Looking back up at the group on the pier, Naruto gave both fresh genin a flabbergasted look in response to Uchiha's query.

"What do you freaking mean 'how do you stand on water'? Haven't they already taught you this in Academy? What the heck have they been teaching you there?"

"Naruto," Kakashi cut in. "Remember that Tazuna-san is not a ninja. We couldn't have walked over to the other side even if Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan knew how to walk on water in the first place."

"Fine, Kakashi-nii-chan," Naruto pouted. "We'll wait for the freaking boat."

And so, Naruto ran back on the pier to join the group. After waiting for an hour more, a small boat powered by oars finally arrived to take the group across to Nami.

* * *

"So, the strait separating Nami no Kuni from the mainland is actually shallow."

As Naruto continued his futile attempts to make small-talk with the bridge builder, the rest of the group were finally glad that they were finally on the last leg of their journey. The crossing itself was uneventful, though the voyage took them forty-five minutes to complete since the boat was entirely human-powered. For some odd reason, they landed a few hundred metres away from the bridge's anchorage on the Nami end, acting as if they didn't want to be seen coming in. It didn't really matter, though. Maybe this place was closer to Tazuna's place. Besides, the sooner they can get the client home, the sooner the team can go home.

The group was now walking though a forest shrouded in fog. Yes, the client was still drunk, though he looked more alert now than he's ever been throughout the journey. Maybe he was just excited to finally return home after a few weeks away.

"But do you think a post-and-girder design is a good one under these conditions?" Naruto continued as he commented on the bridge-builder's work.

"Annnd what d'ya know about bridges, brat?" Tazuna asked, somewhat insulted that the boy was critiquing his work.

"Kaminari no Kuni is full of mountains, streams, and valleys, so Kumo ninja would have to know what type of crossing to build in a short amount of time should they need to."

"And I am Tazuna: Super Bridge Builder!" The client drunkenly declared. "_I_ know all that there is whenever it comes to bridges!"

Suddenly, something in the forest caused the bushes to rustle, catching Naruto's attention. Alerted, the ninja placed their hands over their respective weapon holster, ready to act should the need arise. As the fog began to thin out, the group was greeted by the sight of a white and furry little creature.

"Ooh!" Naruto exclaimed. "A little bunny rabbit!"

"Awww, it's so cute!" Sakura commented, with eyes sparkling at seeing the lagomorph.

Both the blond and pink haired genin hurriedly approached the rabbit, taking turns petting it and stroking its fur. Meanwhile, Kakashi and Sasuke looked on with eyes twitching at their teammates' antics. Seriously, what a childish thing to do!

"Hey, Kakashi-nii-chan, can we keep this rabbit?"

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei, can we?"

"I bet it'll make a nice rabbit stew for tonight's dinner!"

"NARUTO-KUN!" Sakura exclaimed, horrified at what her teammate was implying. "How can you think of doing such a thing to this poor rabbit?"

"Actually, Kakashi-san," Tazuna added, "I wouldn't mind having a nice feast for us tonight."

Sakura's jaw dropped upon hearing Tazuna's comment. She didn't get it. Why on earth would they want to kill the rabbit? It's supposed to be loved and cuddled at as a beloved pet, not roasted or stewed for dinner!

Meanwhile, Naruto was looking at the rabbit, thinking of various ways he could butcher it and recipes he could use to cook it. However, he noticed one odd thing about the rabbit that he should have noted before.

"Wait a minute. A wild rabbit with a white coat…in the middle of May?"

"So what if it's white!" Sakura complained whie giving Naruto a welt on the head courtesy of her fist. "It's supposed to be a pet, not livestock!"

Naruto's eyes widened in realization upon hearing Sakura's latest comment. Either this rabbit was lost or…

With danger senses blaring, Naruto quickly tackled Sakura, both of them ending up flat on the ground on top of one another. Suddenly, a solid wall of chakra passed over the two genin, barely missing Naruto's back and nearly knocking his sword off. The wall of chakra then turned to the left in a circular arc, felling a few of the nearby trees with a loud crash.

Kakashi and Sasuke quickly drew their kunai in response to the attack, with Sasuke positioning himself before Tazuna while Kakashi rushed in to protect Naruto and Sakura. Meanwhile, with Haruno still in his arms below him, Naruto turned his head to look at the person who attacked them.

Huffing and puffing, a bespectacled blue-haired boy about their age was holding a huge flounder-shaped sword with two handles, apparently having exerted himself from the attack. Behind the boy was a frail old man in a kimono who supported himself with a wooden staff topped with a demonic-looking head.

Without pause, the enemy swordsman immediately pumped chakra into his big sword, forming it into the shape of a hammer. Springing into action, Naruto got up, grabbed Kakashi's and Sakura's collar, and dragged both of them back before the hammer-shaped chakra pounded the three of them into the ground.

Naruto was now worried. Though didn't know who the boy was, he clearly recognized the sword that he was handling. What disturbed him even further was the old man lingering behind the swordsman, having heard of him from the history lessons back in Kumo Academy.

The young swordsman didn't let up, though. Moving quickly, the blue-haired boy raised the sword to his right as he prepared to take another swing at the trio. Anticipating the enemy's move, Naruto pushed Kakashi towards the swordsman's left side, past the boy and any immediate danger. With the sword now barely half a metre from the two genin, Naruto decided to take a fall and held Sakura with two arms, both of them rolling away from the enemy's swing.

"Chojuro, behind you!"

The now-named swordsman turned his head back to see Kakashi charging in, aiming to stab him with the kunai. Not having much time to react, Chojuro continued his swing from the previous attack, took a couple of steps to the right, and managed to hit Kakashi by the flat side of his huge sword, sending the Konoha jounin flying towards the elder.

"Chojuro," the elder commanded with a weak voice. "I'll take care of Hatake. You take care of the rest."

"Y-yes, Chief Elder," Chojuro responded with hesitation. "I can deal with the genin…I think…"

With his body aching all over the place from Chojuro's attack, Kakashi got up on one knee as he assessed the situation. This was not looking good! Not only did the boy possess one of the Seven Swords of Kiri, but the old man that he was about to face off against was the elder brother of the late Sandaime Mizukage. And these two acted quickly, so he really had no time do delve into _why_ they were being attacked.

"Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke," Kakashi barked out. "Protect the client from-"

"Suiton: Suifunsui no Jutsu!" (Water Jet)

Kakashi never got to finish his orders as he narrowly dodged a narrow stream of high-velocity water, cutting a neat straight line deep into the ground behind him. Having just avoided being cut in half by the old man's jutsu, the jounin quickly flicked his forehead protector from his left eye, using the Sharingan in an effort to even the odds.

Unfortunately for Kakashi, he wouldn't really get much of an advantage as the old man had already thought ahead of the situation.

* * *

"Kirigakure no Jutsu."

"What the heck do you mean 'Kirigakure no Jutsu?'" Naruto complained, with his eye twitching at what the enemy just called the jutsu. "You freaking copycats! It's not 'Kirigakure no Jutsu', it's Ku-"

Naruto was forced to dodge yet another swing from Chojuro as the swordsman continued his relentless attack. For now, things were looking a bit better having drawn Haruno out of harm's way and now guarding Tazuna-san. Without Haruno or Kakashi to take care of, Naruto was finally able to draw his own sword and fight with the enemy one-on-one. Besides, the blond have long been wondering how he would fare against one of the Swords of Kiri.

"I've heard rumours that Kiri has been training a new swordsman." Naruto commented as he addressed Chojuro. "I wonder if your training programme is up to par with Kumo."

"K-Kumo?" Chojuro questioned. "B-but you're from Konoha…"

"KATON: GOKAKYU NO JUTSU!"

Without warning, a big fireball hurled its way towards the Kiri-nin, threatening to engulf him in fiery flames. Chojuro jumped back, easily dodging the jutsu that the Uchiha was infamous for. Suddenly, a blade of fire emerged from the fireball and made its way towards Chojuro, forcing the swordsman to duck for cover. Chojuro could feel the immense heat from the fire blade as it passed over him, lightly singeing the fibres of his clothes. The swordsman suddenly felt a sharp pain on his ribs as he was given a hard kick from his Konoha counterpart.

"Kumo-Ryu: Kaengiri!" (Cloud Style: Flame Beheading)

As Chojuro rolled away and disappeared into the thickening mist, Naruto's mind was going through a million possible tactics that he could use in their current predicament. Uchiha could be of some help, but Haruno and Tazuna were total liabilities that pretty much limited his options. He somehow had to find a way of either getting this Chojuro away from the two potential targets, or get the two away from the scene.

Naruto suddenly turned right and took off, moving briskly through the fog in the forest. He then jumped back, swung his sword, and was greeted by the sound of steel hitting steel. To his relief, Naruto managed to intercept Chojuro in time and parried his attack before the Kiri-nin could cut Uchiha, Haruno, and Tazuna down.

"Uchiha! Haruno! Get back!"

Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna ran back, trying to stumble their way out to (relative) safety. However, the immense weight of Chojuro's sword forced Naruto to fall down on his back, almost forcing him to let go of his own sword. As Chojuro followed through with his attack, Naruto once again rolled out of the way while taking a swipe at the Kiri-nin's legs, causing the wielder of the larger sword to also fall on the ground.

The two immediately got back up on and took another swing at each other. However, Naruto was already up on his feet while Chojuro was still down on his knees, giving the blonde a temporary height advantage. Naruto could not capitalize on this advantage though, as his light standard-issue sword (from Kumo) tried to grind and slide its way against Chojuro's bulky and heavy sword.

"So, Chojuro-san," Naruto started. "I should say that the Hiramekarei is a pretty nice sword. I hope you don't mind me taking it after I win."

"N-never! The Hiramekarei will forever belong to Kiri…"

Naruto kept pushing down with his light sword; Chojuro kept pushing up with his heavy sword. Neither combatant was able to break this impasse, unwilling to give the other any sort of advantage. As Naruto and Chojuro were locked in a stalemate, the forest was suddenly filled with a desperate plea from Kakashi.

"Naruto! Sasuke! Sakura! Get the hell out of here and save yourselves!"

As the fog lifted, Naruto (with Sakura and Sasuke behind him) looked to see Kakashi's predicament. It seemed that the old man, with his arm stretched out, had the Konoha jounin immobilized in a glob of water. Seeing his brother-figure now helpless at the mercy of the old man, Naruto can only utter out one expression.

"Eh?"

Momentarily distracted, a thick blade quickly sliced through Naruto's neck, separating his head from his torso. The blade continued to cut its way back and forth, dismembering Naruto's body into about twenty different chunks of limbs and gore.

A blood-soaked Chojuro stood, heavily panting after wielding that heavy sword around.

A drop of thick, warm, red liquid splashed onto Sakura's cheek, cruelly caressing her face as it slid its way down into her neck. With her gaze upon the carnage before them and her eyes welling up with tears, she couldn't believe what just happened right in front of her.

"NARUTO-KUN‼"

* * *

Kakashi could not believe it. The only son of his sensei—dead, slaughtered right before his eyes. Minato-sensei will have a fit and beat him to within an inch of death…if he somehow survived through this. But right now, things were beyond remedy. Naruto's gone, and the jounin would likely be joining him soon after. All he could hope for now is for the two remaining genin to survive, and somehow make their way back to Konoha.

"SAKURA! SASUKE! GO! NOW‼"

Still trembling in fear, Sakura and Sasuke quickly turned and ran away as fast as they could, dragging Tazuna along with them. Chojuro quickly collected himself and started to give chase, before inexplicably stopping right before where the clearing ended.

"Chojuro!" The Kiri elder scolded. "This is not the time to be hesitating! Go after them!"

"B-but Chief Elder," Chojuro responded, "I-I have a bad feeling about this…"

"Look Chojuro, you need to have more confidence in yourself. You're one of the Seven Swordsmen, aren't you?"

Chojuro looked around as he heard the elder's pep-talk to him. "N-no, Chief Elder. There's something else wrong…I think."

As Kakashi eavesdropped on the conversation between the Kiri-nin, he couldn't decide whether he should be happy that the swordsman let Sasuke and Sakura escape, or dread the fact that he was about to die. He did his best and gave it his all…or maybe not. The Konoha jounin had severely underestimated the old man, and now he and Naruto have paid dearly for it. A pang of regret washed through Kakashi as he prepared himself for what these two enemies had in store for him.

Suddenly, the silence of the forest was broken by the screams of a young child coming from the side of the clearing.

"Ojii-chan! Watch out‼"

The three shinobi turned to see what the fuzz was all about. A little red-haired girl wearing a yukata, no older than eight, was sitting on a tree terrified as she pointed at something at the sky behind Kakashi and the elder. Kakashi and the Kiri elder quickly turned to literally see what's up.

Dropping in from the sky was a blond-haired boy, wearing traditional clothing not unlike that of a samurai outside battle, both arms high over his head with his sword clutched tightly within his hands. As the boy prepared to bear down on the Kiri elder and swing his sword, the old man was forced to let go of the water prison he was holding Kakashi in and jumped aside, taking a painful fall as he barely avoided being cleaved in half by the incoming swordsman. Suddenly, the space between the elder and Kakashi was occupied by the boy, his sword deeply embedded into the ground.

"Kumo Ryu: Tentouwari!" (Cloud Style: Heavenly Head Splitter)

Chojuro charged in, trying to prevent Naruto from engaging the elder into a fight. Naruto however sheathed his sword and dragged Kakashi out of the way, not interested in fighting until Kakashi-nii-chan was safe. Soon, the four ninja stood before each other, Naruto and Kakashi on one side, and Chojuro and the Kiri Chief Elder on the other.

However, the Kiri-nin now had more pressing matters to worry about.

"Kasumi-chan!" Chojuro scolded. "What on earth are you doing here? Didn't we tell you to stay behind?"

"But Onii-chan, Fuwa-Fuwa-san is missing!"

"Fuwa-Fuwa-san?" Naruto muttered as he raised his brow. What kind of a cheesy name was Mr. Fluffy? "Wait, you mean that thing?"

Naruto pointed at what remained of his 'corpse', quickly poofing as the jutsu cast onto it was dispelled, revealing cut-up parts of the rabbit they've encountered earlier.

"FUWA-FUWA-SAN‼" Kasumi cried out as she saw the dismembered carcass of her beloved bunny. The girl, distressed by the ordeal, lost her balance and fell off the tree she was hiding in.

"Chief Elder!" Chojuro exclaimed. "We can't stay and fight while Kasumi-chan is here. We have to go now."

With that, the swordsman gave the elder a piggyback ride, before moving quickly towards the girl and slinging the child on his shoulder. As the swordsman moved away burdened by three heavy things, Naruto inched his hand towards his sword prepared to chase the three people from Kiri. However, before he could move, he felt a warm hand fall on his shoulder.

"Naruto, there's no need to chase them now."

"But Kakashi-nii-chan, they're getting away. We're at an advantage here and-"

"Well not exactly, Naruto-kun," Kakashi rebuted. "I'm almost to the point of chakra exhaustion, and I'd prefer to head somewhere safe right now. Besides, we need to go find Sakura and Sasuke and more importantly, find the reason why we were attacked."

With much hesitation, Naruto complied and slung Kakashi's arm around his shoulder, supporting him as they tried to find where Tazuna lived. As they walked along the forest, Naruto ground his teeth and furrowed his brows, determined to find out who was responsible for this whole fiasco.

* * *

**PS:** Ha! I bet you never expected that!


	11. Hideout

Hey everyone! Here's the eleventh chapter of the story. If you're Sting or from the Police, please don't sue me. And I don't own _Pokémon_ either...

Otherwise, enjoy!

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

XI: Hideout

Huddled in the corner of the room with her arms around her legs, Haruno Sakura was sobbing, inconsolable after all that had just happened. Everything began and went along just fine for most of the week, enjoying her long stroll to Nami no Kuni beside Sasuke-kun. But then, just as they were about to finish the mission, those monsters from Kiri just showed up and brutally murdered Naruto-kun right before their very eyes. They even captured Kakashi-sensei, and who knows what sorts of tortures and horrors they had in store for him?

She, Sasuke-kun, and Tazuna-san managed to escape the killing fields they've hurriedly left behind, eventually finding their way back to Tazuna's home. Yet even though they've made it to their destination, they felt that they were far from safe. Who knew when that swordsman Chojuro would finally track them down and finish the job? Fear has paralyzed Sakura, and all the pink-haired girl could do was weep and sob.

Suddenly, everyone at home heard a loud knock on the door. Sasuke, who was nervously pacing back and forth the living room all this time, stopped. Tsunami-san, the daughter of the bridge builder who was about to offer Sakura a cup of tea, put the old tea set down on the table and feared the worst. Sasuke silently motioned for Tazuna, Tsunami, and Sakura to hide as he prepared himself to deal with this unwanted guest.

Another knock was heard. This time, Sasuke drew his kunai out from its holster and held it tightly, ready to fight the swordsman once again. He already failed Kakashi-sensei and Naruto by just standing in the sidelines and guarding Tazuna, but hardly chipping in. This time, he was determined to live. He would avenge Kakashi, Naruto, and put all those who had wronged him to justice. Dying was not an option.

Sasuke gingerly turned the knob, then quickly flung the door open and jumped back to make space between him and his would-be attacker. Imagine his surprise when he saw the injured form of Kakashi leaning heavily on Naruto. Impossible—they were dead! Suddenly, he saw a small pug with a Konoha forehead protector walk towards him, taking a couple of good sniffs at him afterwards.

"Kakashi," the dog said, "I guess I found Sasuke-kun. I also smell the scent of Sakura around this house; I think your students made it here safely."

"Thank you, Pakkun. You may return now."

As the dog dispelled itself by poofing out of existence, the three Konoha-nin by the door heard a cry from Sakura.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! NARUTO-KUN! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

The Hokage's son was immediately greeted with a glomp from Sakura, tighly wrapping her arms around him and crying her heart out for his 'return from death'. The girl didn't get it: She saw him cut up into pieces…even had some of 'his blood' splatter on her face. Nothing made sense, but all that didn't matter anymore. Naruto and Kakashi were alive, and have miraculously escaped the clutches of the Kiri-nin.

Naruto however seemed livid, grinding his teeth in an effort to contain his rage. Sure, he was glad that Haruno and Uchiha were alive and safe, but there was one thing about this so-called mission he wanted to deal with.

"Haruno," Naruto growled. "Where is Tazuna?"

As if on cue, Tazuna left his hiding place to greet them, acting relieved that the two managed to make their way to his home.

"Ah, Kakashi-san, Naruto-san, how am I glad to see you. I thought you two were goners."

The sound of a sword being unsheathed immediately rang within the house, putting an end to this joyful reunion. Without warning, Naruto took off and charged across the living room, knocking a few old wooden chairs aside. The blond quickly grabbed a hold of Tazuna's shirt with his left hand and knocked him down, pinning the bridge builder against the wall while positioning the sword right against the old man's neck, ready to stab him on the slightest twitch of his arm.

"YOU FREAKING SET US UP FOR THAT AMBUSH, DIDN'T YOU?"

As Tazuna trembled uncontrollably in fear, Naruto felt a hand trying to hold his right arm back and a kunai push against his own neck…probably Uchiha. Ignoring the threat from Sasuke, Naruto's gaze pierced through the eyes of Tazuna, causing the old man to wet and soil himself. Naruto berated himself for dismissing all those warning signs as just something frivolous, but now he wanted to send a message that no one messed around with Konoha just like that.

"Now tell me, how much did the Mizukage pay you to lure us here?"

As Sasuke relaxed his grip content that the person he was trying to hold back was indeed Naruto, Tazuna just sat there shaking on his own filth, unable to find words how to explain all this to the Konoha-nin.

"I-I d-don't know what you're talking about…I-I hired you to protect me…"

"You dare feed us that crap!" Naruto roared. "Why the hell would one of the Swordsmen of the Mist and the elder brother of the Sandaime Mizukage be sent to go after some nobody like you? I'm guessing Mizukage hired you so he could dispose of Kakashi-nii-chan, Uchiha, or maybe even me!"

Naruto pressed his sword deeper into Tazuna's neck by just a millimetre, breaking skin and drawing a few drops of blood. Tazuna tried to raise his head in panic, desperately trying to avoid having his neck sliced open by the blond. As the bridge builder saw Naruto's stare bear down on him, the man could only think of how his plan backfired catastrophically. They were supposed to protect him, and now they threaten him and expose him to the edge of death.

"A-Alright! I admit it! I lied!" Tazuna said with tears running down his face. "T-This wasn't just a C-ranked mission…I hired you to protect me from Gatou. He ruined Nami's economy and took control of the market, and he wanted to stop me from building that bridge! N-Nami couldn't afford to get a higher-ranked mission—all we could come up with was money for a C-level. But I never imagined that he himself would hire those shinobi just to kill me…"

"And how do we know you're not lying this time?" Naruto questioned.

"Naruto, that's enough. Let him go."

Naruto turned his head to see Kakashi bracing himself against a wall opposite the room, trying some sort of way to support himself. He turned back to look at Tazuna, whose body was trembling and eyes welling up.

"Kakash-nii-chan, he was the whole reason why all this happened."

"Let him go. I've had a few stints with the Interrogation Department, and I can tell he's telling the truth…this time."

"But-"

"As your commanding officer, I order you to release Tazuna."

Naruto took one last look at Tazuna, before pulling back and sheathing his sword. He can't believe that Kakashi just pulled rank on him and let that bastard go just like that. He just hoped Kakashi knew the consequences of what he was doing.

"Be grateful Kakashi-nii-chan showed you mercy to live and see a few more hours." Naruto gloomily declared to Tazuna. "I guess it's time to take our leave and head back to Konoha."

"W-What?" Tazuna muttered, unable to believe all his 'efforts' were for naught.

"Naruto," Kakashi cut in, "I'm afraid we're not going anywhere."

"And why not?" Naruto protested. "We delivered the client home safely. We've achieved our objective: Mission accomplished."

"Naruto," Sasuke commented, "are you suggesting that we run away from this?"

"You're damn right, Uchiha: We run! The odds are stacked up against us, especially with that old man from Kiri around."

"I thought you laughed at the face of danger." Sasuke taunted.

"I'm not that stupid! Besides, how else do you think Kumo won its last war against Konoha?"

"Naruto-kun," Kakashi interjected. "Even if I wanted to leave, I'm afraid I'm in no condition to start the journey right now."

Naruto looked at Kakashi, and saw that the jounin was indeed labouring to summon every ounce of strength he had left just to avoid passing out. Kakashi took a huge gamble summoning one of his dogs while in such a state, so Naruto supposed that Kakashi's idea of staying a while held some merit.

"Fine, Kakashi-nii-chan," Naruto reluctantly complied. "But that doesn't mean that I trust Tazuna-san."

Naruto then turned to Tazuna, once again glaring at him with great suspicion.

"And you, you better not try anything funny on us and pull a stunt like that ever again." Naruto warned. "Believe me; I will be keeping a close eye on you."

* * *

"Fuwa-Fuwa-san!"

Chojuro and the Chief Elder of Kiri could only watch as little Kasumi-chan wailed at the loss of her pet rabbit. Chojuro couldn't help but pity the little girl. He really wished that there was a way they could have avoided all this and stayed in Kiri. But since the old man was one of the child's only two surviving relatives (and the only one who wasn't a missing-nin at the time), they really had no choice but to take her along with them on their quest. Who knew what the Mizukage would do to her if they left her behind to fend for herself in Kiri?

As his mind drifted into thinking about the Mizukage, Chojuro's face frowned at the predicament they found themselves in. Why couldn't the other Swordsmen just believe what he was saying? It's not as if he were trying to instigate a rebellion. Everyone overreacted, though that was not surprising considering what he had discovered. The wielder of the Hiramekarei just hoped that he, along with the elder, could save the Mizukage just in time and sort this out.

His attention shifted back at Kasumi's sobbing. Really, all this was already too much for a child who hasn't even entered Academy.

"I'm sorry, Kasumi-chan," Chojuro said apologetically. "I shouldn't have been reckless like that. I promise we'll get you a new rabbit once this is all over with."

"I-It's not your fault, Chojuro-onii-chan," Kasumi replied, briefly pausing to sniff some of the dripping snot back into her nose. "It's that ninja's fault why he's dead!"

As the girl continued to insist that the swordsman was blameless for the demise of her pet, the Chief Elder couldn't help but think about the battle they just came from. It was supposed to be a simple task for Gatou-san, one of the chief financiers in Mizu no Kuni: Eliminate the bridge builder Tazuna, and Gatou would back them financially on their little venture. But who would have thought that Tazuna would bring Kakashi and some Kumo-nin all along? And what was that Kumo-nin doing hanging around with Konoha-nin?

"Chojuro," the elder said with a weak voice as he interrupted the boy's conversation with Kasumi, "you don't need to berate Kasumi-chan for wandering off. I would have been cut down by that Kumo-nin had she not shown up."

"Kumo-nin?" Chojuro muttered. "You mean that boy I fought with the blond hair? Your eyesight must be deteriorating, Honourable Chief Elder; he was clearly wearing a Konoha headband."

"Yet he seemed very familiar with Kumo Ryu," the elder responded.

"Kumo Ryu?" Kasumi asked as she wiped some of the snot off her nose using her bare arms.

"Kumogakure is perhaps the only shinobi village which retains the use of kenjutsu in general practice," the elder explained. "Even back in Kiri, only the Seven Swordsmen are trained to handle swords. Kaminari no Kuni's geographical isolation and ruggedness afforded Kumo the luxury of forging a way of fighting that's vastly different from the rest of the shinobi villages. Many who fought them were usually caught off-guard at their unusual ways. I'm pretty sure their style has its weaknesses, but direct skirmishes against Kumo ninja were rare and no one really has enough experience to analyze their moves."

"Chief Elder," Chojuro said, "s-should I be more careful if we meet them again?"

"Chojuro, I'm telling you to be weary of that boy. Any one of the Swordsmen would win against someone from Kumo after a long and protracted one-one-one battle. However, if you pit all Seven Swordsmen against any random three-man chunin team from Kumo, then the team from Kumo will win. And we don't know if that swordsman from Konoha…Kumo…I don't know…whether he trained the other two genin or not."

Chojuro's eyes drooped as he began to worry about how their next battle would go. Having the Chief Elder having concerns about that blond swordsman only sapped his confidence further.

"S-so Chief Elder, what are we going to do?"

"For now, we wait for Gozu and Meizu to return. Incompetent as they are, I pray that the two of them merely missed intercepting Tazuna…and nothing else."

The elder then turned to Kasumi, and gently ruffled her straight, ginger-coloured hair. Oh how he wished that his brother's great-granddaughter was not here to begin with!

"Kasumi-chan," the elder gently called her. "Starting tomorrow, why don't you go outside and play with the kids in town?"

"Chief Elder!" Chojuro spoke up with some concern. "A-Are you sure it's safe to send her out there?"

"Kasumi," the elder continued as he looked at _his_ only living relative, "you deserve a life much better than what we've been enduring. So why don't you go out there, make some friends, and enjoy yourself?"

"Y-yes, Ojii-chan."

The elder sighed as he sat to let his tired old bones rest. He was already long past his prime, and he considered himself lucky that he didn't need to move a single step in his fight against Hatake. He couldn't imagine how much more his frail body could handle should he be forced to take the three kids from Konoha alone. He just hoped that the Demon Brothers would return soon so they could finally finish this task.

* * *

Tenzo stood at the dirt path in the forests of the eastern part of Hi no Kuni, completely dumbfounded at what he was seeing before him. He, along with his two ANBU companions, were on a routine patrol mission and about to head home after a week of quiet peace when they came upon such a bizarre scene. Alright, the discovery of two corpses was not bizarre in itself. But it was the condition the bodies were in that intrigued the three ANBU agents.

"Taichou, based on my preliminary scan, these two Kiri-nin seem to have…drowned…"

Tenzo frowned upon hearing the assessment. "This doesn't make any sense at all. We are a long ways away from any water source, and it hasn't rained in this area for more than a month now."

The third ANBU soon commented. "What kind of person would you think would go through all this effort of fighting the Demon Brothers, drown _them_ out of all people, and drag both corpses for about a day without leaving any signs at all…well, besides the bodies."

"And what's weird is that I find no signs of struggle with these two bodies." The impromptu examiner added. "Usually, there should be at least some chemical signs to suggest that they at least fought."

Tenzo turned one of the bodies over and unmasked one of the Kiri-nin. The captain immediately repulsed himself in disgust and wished he hadn't done that, as foul liquid spilled after the tight seal with the mask was broken and revealing the bloated face of…who was that again, Meizu or Gozu?

"Hog, Hen, get a couple of scrolls ready and prepare the bodies for transport to Konoha. We'll have more time to dwell on this once we get back."

As the two ANBU agents made their preparations, Tenzo looked on and wondered what sort of brute would even have the finesse to execute such an elaborate plan.

* * *

Naruto narrowed his eyes looking suspiciously at Tazuna while hiding behind a light standard a few metres away from the construction site. No matter how much Kakashi tried to reassure him, the Hokage's son still believed that the bridge builder was sent by the Mizukage as a vector to deliver one of them into the hands of Kiri. Tazuna lied to them before; Nartuo felt that the man still had something up his sleeve. Every breath he took, every move he made, every bond he broke, every step he took—Naruto will be watching Tazuna.

To Tazuma's despair, morale at the jobsite has crashed to an all-time low ever since he returned with his so-called bodyguards. Instead of having the security and peace of mind of being guarded against the dangers coming from Gatou, the workers felt as if they were being watched by a mountain lion hiding amongst the surroundings ready to pounce on its prey at any moment. The effect on the people was the complete opposite of what Tazuna had in mind, and the bridge builder was now questioning himself whether it was a wise idea to fool a ninja in the first place.

"Naruto," Sasuke spoke as he jolted Naruto out of his thoughts, "I know we're supposed to be watching the bridge builder, but how long are you planning on stalking Tazuna like this?"

Naruto responded, "You can never be too careful against people like him, especially considering the ninja we fought."

"And what are you afraid of?" Sasuke taunted. "I'd admit that you handled yourself against that swordsman pretty well."

"It's not the swordsman that I'm really worried about, Uchiha. It's that old man."

"Why be afraid of some old man? I'd bet he's just weak and feeble."

"You don't get it, don't you Uchiha? Yes, old people are weak and feeble, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous. People don't get old in a ninja village just by sitting around and twiddling their thumbs! I've lived with the Nidaime Raikage when I was in Kumo, and he still packed a lot of damage despite his advanced age. Kakashi-nii-chan underestimated the Sandaime Mizukage's brother, and he got owned while the geezer never even had to take a single step."

Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement as he heard of Naruto's concerns. After graduating fresh out of academy, Uchiha thought that he could finally take his brother on and have his vengeance. Everyone praised him and groveled at the ground he walked on, leading him to think that he was finally powerful enough. Oh how all of that pre-conceived notions went crashing down when Namikaze waltzed in! He found out that his rage was misdirected, all that he'd been taught was a severe distortion of the truth, and was hastily grounded into the reality that he was way weaker than most of the ninja in Konoha and outside the village.

The Uchiha hated being weak, but Naruto offered his assistance and he'll gladly take it. His goals may have changed, but he'll still follow through on his quest for vengeance.

"Uchiha," as Naruto interrupted his thoughts, "you think you can form a kage bunshin without passing out this time?"

"No." Sasuke replied as he ground his teeth at having his weaknesses pointed out.

"Then I suggest that you join Haruno at the anchorage for the Vertical Surface Walking Exercise. You may as well do something productive while waiting for Kakashi-nii-chan to recover. Hopefully he can get better soon so we can get the hell out of here."

As Sasuke walked up the bridge towards town to begin the day's training, Naruto turned back to his hiding place to keep a close eye on those workers. It seemed that they've overheard the conversation, nervously shifting about as they glanced at the retreating figure of the Uchiha. Naruto poked his head out and gave Tazuna another nasty glare. He will not be caught off-guard this time! Every single day, every word Tazuna said, every game he played, every night they stayed during this stint—Naruto will be watching Tazuna.

* * *

Along a quiet part in the rocky shores of Nami no Kuni, an eight-year old boy squat crying his heart out and wiping the tears on his face. Why did his grandfather have to go out of his way and cause trouble? They were already asking for retribution when the old man began construction on the bridge. They were flirting with disaster when he hired those ninja from Konoha. And now, those ninja turned their swords on him and pushed him to the edge of death! Why couldn't they just accept the fact that Gatou was their new lord and live on?

It didn't help his composure when the blond ninja told him to crawl up a corner and die, saying that cowards like him don't deserve a place in the world. The ninja said only strength and respect mattered, and people unwilling to stand up for themselves will just be mowed down to the ground. But he was only an eight-year old boy; not strong enough to take Gatou's goons on nor respected to influence anyone! Was he really destined to live as the scum of the earth for the rest of his life?

The boy yelled out loud in frustration, trying to release these pent-up emotions that had been piling up on him these past few years. He grabbed a stone, and hurled it into the fog-covered waters as far as he could with his feeble strength. He listened as he heard the splash coming from about a few metres away.

"Wha'cha doing?"

Startled, the boy quickly turned to see who was there, before falling flat on his bottom. It was a girl his age, wearing a simple yukata with shoulder-length ginger-coloured hair tied to a tuft on the left side. Who was she? He'd never seen her before.

"W-Who are you!" The apprehensive boy demanded.

"My name's Kasumi!" The girl replied. "I am travelling around with Ojii-chan and Onii-chan, and they're letting me out and play today."

"Th-Then you should just tell your old man to leave," the boy cried. "You'll only get yourself killed here…"

Kasumi looked at the boy and saw that he had been crying. Curiousity had gotten a hold of her as she asked a question:

"What happened? Who will kill us?"

The boy replied with his version of the account: "There is someone out there who wants Grandpa dead! And now, there's a bunch of ninja in our house keeping us prisoner!"

Kasumi gasped as she heard of what the boy had to deal with. "That's terrible! Why do people want to kill your ojii-chan?"

"I don't know! They already killed daddy! And now those bad guys want to kill Grandpa too!"

The girl's eyes began to water up upon hearing of the boy's grievances. Even though she was a stranger, her situation was not really that different from the boy's.

"S-someone also tried to kill Ojii-chan too." Kasumi said. "And they even killed my rabbit Fuwa-Fuwa-san."

"R-Really…"

"But Ojii-chan said that he'll get me a new rabbit when we're done here." Kasumi continued as she picked a stone up, threw it, and have it skip across the water. "Kaa-chan died a long time ago, and I still miss her, but Ojii-chan said that she is watching over me from a happy place…"

The boy looked down and thought about what the girl had told him. Though the girl was shedding tears for him, he saw that Kasumi was collected for someone who suffered the same losses as him. He witnessed the brutal execution of his father-figure with his very eyes, yet after hearing the girl's words, he thought that maybe, just maybe, the person whom he looked up to was indeed in a better place watching over him.

"By the way," the girl asked, "what's your name?"

"Inari," the boy responded. "My name's Inari."

"Nice to meet you, Inari-chan! Let's be friends from now on."

Inari looked at Kasumi as she smiled back at him. Despite her reassurances, the boy still feared a lot of things that's been going on his life lately. All this was already too much for the young boy to bear. But maybe he could leave and forget some of those worries behind while hanging out withKasumi-chan.

* * *

"Chief Elder, they haven't been back yet. It's already been a week."

The old man sighed as he slouched further into his seat. Just as he feared, the Demon Brothers never came back. They have been putting this operation off until their return, but it seemed that option was no longer viable.

"I sure hope they only deserted us," the elder replied. "If they're still out there, then there's still hope that they'll join us again sometime in the future. Otherwise…"

Chujuro frowned at what the elder was implying. "So, what do we do now?"

"We still need financial backing from Gatou. I say we finish this once and for all tomorrow."

"B-But," the swordsman stammered, "j-just the two of us? You almost got killed the last time…"

"And I won't make the same mistake this time, Chojuro. Now that I think about it, I would say that you were having some trouble with the Kumo-nin yourself."

"W-what are you suggesting, Chief Elder?"

The old man sighed once again, having thought of this back-up plan over and over again this past week. "Chojuro, I suggest that we switch roles. You take on Hatake, and I will take on the swordsman and the two genin."

"B-But…"

The elder explained, "I have to admit that I've been itching for a fight against a Kumo-nin ever since the last time I encountered one a long ago in my youth. And you should be able to easily dispose of Hatake and help me afterwards. All you need is confidence in yourself, Chojuro."

However, Chojuro was still unsure about the whole thing, especially upon hearing that the elder wanted a shot at redemption for some failure a long time ago. Yes, they needed the money that badly and Gatou was already pressing them to finally kill Tazuna, but can't they find that money elsewhere? They've already lost Gozu and Meizu, and he hoped that the three of them could get out of this in one piece.

But what would happen to Kasumi-chan should they fail?

"Ojii-chan! Chojuro-onii-chan! I'm back!"

Chojuro and the elder turned their heads towards the entrance of their hideout, seeing that Kasumi has returned after being away for most of the day. It seemed that the girl has made a few friends here in Nami, and they were glad that she was at least playing with kids her age. Perhaps one of the families here could take the poor girl in should the two Kiri-nin not make it.

"Kasumi-chan, welcome back," the elder greeted back. "Did you have fun with your friends today?"

"Yes, Ojii-chan!"

"Kasumi-chan, why don't you come over here?" The elder motioned the girl towards him as he let out a weak melancholic smile.

"W-What is it, Ojii-chan?" Kasumi asked as she watched the old man take a small scroll from a ragged pack they've been carrying. The elder applied some chakra into the scroll, apparently to unseal something stored in it.

The girl let out a shocked gasp as she saw what was stored in the scroll: A loaded crossbow and six bolts.

"Kasumi-chan, things are going to get ugly tomorrow," the elder warned. "As soon as you wake up, why don't you go get your friends and head for somewhere safe?"

Kasumi trembled as the elder handed the deadly weapon into her small arms. Why were they giving her this? She didn't even know a thing about being a ninja! Were they expecting to be attacked tomorrow?

The elder grabbed a hold of his staff as he saw the little girl tear up. "Kasumi-chan, it is not our intention to abandon you and leave you alone," he continued. "If we don't see you again, please know that both Chojuro-nii-san and I love you and want the best for you."

"But Ojii-chan-"

A bright red flash was emitted from the ruby eyes of the sculpted head of the elder's staff, causing the young child to freeze. Kasumi slowly closed her eyes and opened them again, revealing a gazed and tranced look. In contrast to her near-hysteria a while ago, the kid now looked relaxed and complicit to anyone's suggestions.

"Now, why don't you be a good girl and go to sleep?"

"Yes, Ojii-chan…"

As the hypnotized girl turned to go to bed and retire for the day, the Chief Elder sighed once more and turned his head towards Chojuro.

Chujuro spoke up, concerned about the welfare of the child. "Chief Elder, are you sure it's alright to leave Kasumi-chan all alone like this?"

"Do you want her to be alone?"

"O-Of course not!"

"Then I suggest that you gather up all the courage and strength you can muster and live through tomorrow. Go rest up; we have a long day ahead of us."

As the elder put his staff aside to sleep on his chair, Chojuro couldn't help but worry about all this. But there's nothing much he could do to change their plans for tomorrow. Hesitantly, the swordsman made his way towards his sword to make his final preparations for the assassination of Tazuna.


	12. Showdown in Nami no Kuni

Happy Easter everyone! Things may get busy and hectic for me this week—hence the early release.

Just to let those who are not caught up to manga or anime know, there's only one OC in the Nami Arc. Well, one and a half… I took some artistic license with the Kiri Chief Elder. And if you're asking, Kasumi is inspired by a certain video game from GameBoy from the late 1990's, but otherwise an OC.

Well, here's the twelfth chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

XII: Showdown in Nami no Kuni

Supported by a pair of crutches under his armpits, Hatake Kakashi was finally able to leave the house and move about after being incapacitated for a week. That fight against the Kiri-nin took quite a toll on his body, from chakra exhaustion to having a few cracked ribs after taking a blow from the Hiramekarei. Even with a week of rest, he was far from being back to one hundred per cent: It would still take a few more days for some of his injuries to heal.

However, that didn't stop Naruto from complaining as the team walked along with Tazuna to his workplace at the bridge.

"Kakashi-nii-chan, why can't we go and leave today? You're well enough to walk around, you know?"

"Naruto, I'm afraid I'm still in no shape to be walking all day long; we still have to wait for my body to recover."

"Then why go outside with us instead of staying behind and resting up?"

Kakashi explained, "Naruto, staying at Tazuna's home and sleeping the day off will no longer benefit me at this point of my recovery. I have to get out and do some light exercises in order to regain my strength."

"Fine, fine, Kakashi-nii-chan," Naruto responded. "But we're leaving as soon as you're able to run around."

"Naruto," Kakashi said as he began his lecture, "you should know that once in a while, circumstances could change that may cause a mission to go beyond its original scope. True, we've already completed the mission the Hokage gave us, but what good would that do if the client ends up dead anyways after we leave?"

"And I still say that he's an agent hired by Mizukage to kill any one of us. You should always expect the worst whenever something like this happens." Naruto rebutted, causing Kakashi to let out an exasperated sigh.

As the group made their way to the bridge, Tazuna couldn't help but frown at hearing the conversation. Though he had somewhat earned the sympathy of the jounin, the boy and his teammates had no intention of protecting him. Instead, they were guarding him as if he were a dangerous prisoner scheming some sort of elaborate plan. All Tazuna could do right now was close his eyes and hope that he'd end up alive after all this.

* * *

"Urgh! How on earth does Naruto-kun do this?"

Sakura continued to mumble and complain as she swam back to shore during this training session. She easily got the concept of walking up vertical surfaces on her first try, and she finally got comfortable with the concept after a few days. Seeing how quickly she progressed, Naruto told her to give water walking a try. To her frustration, all she managed the past few days was float for a few seconds, before sinking and forcing her to paddle back to shore. Walking on water was a completely different beast from walking on a concrete wall! Sure, she got the concept on how to do this, but she simply did not have the endurance to do this successfully.

As the drenched girl shivered and tried to wring her soaked clothes without removing them, Sakura turned to look at how Sasuke-kun was progressing. Once again, she winced as she saw the object of her affections fall off the wall and hit the ground hard. Was their training in the Academy that far behind of what their counterparts in Kumo have been getting? Naruto has been complaining about their lack of training ever since they've met, and it was becoming more and more evident over the past few months. If Sasuke himself was having this much trouble doing this exercise, then she could imagine how ill-prepared they, or their former classmates, would be should they meet ninja of the Kiri-nin's calibre.

"Argh!" Sakura heard Sasuke yell in frustration. "Why can't I do this?"

Sakura looked at Sasuke before her eyes drifted towards the wall from which the Uchiha fell. The concrete wall was pockmarked with light indentations resulting from numerous attempts by the boy to walk up the surface.

Sakura explained, "S-Sasuke-kun, I think you should ease up on using chakra. You're using too much, and your feet ends up being repulsed against the wall due to the excess chakra."

Sasuke glared back at Sakura and narrowed his eyes in jealousy. Day after day, she had told him the same thing. This was easier said than done: Uchiha had been trying to control his chakra output all along, but for some reason he always exerted more chakra than he needed. It puzzled him how the girl was able to get a hang of this in a short amount of time.

"Sakura, if you're not gonna help, then go back to your training," Sasuke said as he told Sakura off. The girl's demeanour just took a fall down by a notch, disheartened by the lack of reciprocity of her affections.

As Sakura sat on the shore to take a break, her thoughts drifted back to the dangers Naruto said lurked around them. All she did the last was guard the client and ran, but then Naruto claimed that the client was the enemy. Was being a ninja really this confusing and complicated?

As she watched Sasuke get up and try to walk up the wall again, a thick fog rolled across the waters and quickly enveloped the surroundings. Sakura couldn't help but have that ominous feeling in her as she recalled the last time the weather changed so quickly.

* * *

"Please spare my son! He's only eight!"

All Tsunami could do was make her helpless plea as she watched the bandit with the eye patch seize her son. She had been washing the dishes in the kitchen after breakfast when two intruders suddenly burst through the doors and demanded that she go with them. The mother was about to comply when a bandit crossed paths with Inari, who was hiding in the stairwell having seen the whole episode. She let out a cry as the man grabbed Inari by the shirt and hurled him hard into the base of the sink.

The man was now holding her son up high by the jaws. Oh why must fortune deal her such unfavourable cards? Had her father and the ninja leaf just a bit later or the bandits taken her a bit later, then all this could have been avoided. But now she's trembling and fearing for the life of her son.

"So, what shall we do with the boy? We only need the woman as hostage."

"Kill him."

Tsunami's eyes widened as she heard of the bandits' plans. They'll still follow through their threat despite her pleas! But Inari must live through this and survive. And right now, she could only think of one thing she had under her control.

"Don't hurt my son! If you hurt him, I'll-"

"Shut up and be quiet!"

The bandit holding Tsunami slammed the hilt of his sword against the woman's back, causing the woman to collapse and shrivel in pain. Meanwhile, Inari watched as he witnessed another of his loved ones be brutally beaten before his eyes.

"Momma!"

"Why don't you also shut up brat?" The one-eyed bandit holding the boy yelled as he gleefully threw and slammed the boy onto a cupboard, causing its contents (mainly kitchen utensils) to spill out dangerously around Inari.

"Now," the bandit continued as he brandished his sword, "why don't you prepare yourself and meet that terrorist you admire so much…"

Inari trembled fearfully as he watched the man slowly make his way towards him. His arms frantically tapped the floor as tried to grab something that he could defend himself with—a spoon. As the bandit grinned at the prospect of pouncing on his prey, Tsunami could only watch her son about to be murdered, unable to move and scream due to the intense pain on her back.

"Inari-chan! Do you want to play?"

Tsunami despaired as she heard the little girl's voice. Her son had made a new friend over the past few days, and Kasumi-chan would come by every morning to invite Inari to play around. She was glad that Inari was finally socializing with the kids instead of just moping around, and now she feared that the poor girl was going to be caught up with all the mess they were in.

"Inari-chan! Are you…here…"

Kasumi stopped as she saw the scene before her. Inari-chan's mother was lying on the floor, with a scary man brandishing a sword holding her down with his feet. Inari himself was splayed with his back against the cupboard holding up a spoon, trying to fend off another bandit wielding a sword. The past few days, Inari had told of all his fears. Maybe this was what Ojii-chan was warning her of last night.

"Ooh, what have we here?" The bandit holding Tsunami down asked. "This brat's little girlfriend…"

"Hmm, I wonder how much the girl would fetch in the 'market'…" The one with the eye patch leacherously commented.

"Kasumi-chan!" Inari yelled. "Get out of here! They're gonna kill us!"

Kasumi trembled as her friend implored her to leave. But Ojii-chan said for her to take her friends somewhere safe…and Inari-chan was in trouble. With her body still shaking, she reached back and grabbed the weapon the elder gave her last night.

"Girl," the bandit before Inari growled as he narrowed his visible eye, "that's a dangerous thing for a kid like you to have. Why don't you hand the crossbow over to Zori-nii-chan and-"

The burly bandit in front of Inari suddenly yelled out in pain as a bolt pierced through his left thigh and shattered his femur, causing him to collapse on the ground. Cursing out loudly, the bandit called out to his partner as he plotted revenge against the girl.

"YOU BITCH‼ YOU SHOT ME IN THE LEG! I DON'T CARE ABOUT GATOU'S ORDERS ANYMORE! ZORI, KILL THE DAUGHTER AND WE'LL SELL THE GIRL AFTER."

As Kasumi frantically fumbled around trying to reload the crossbow, the bandit Zori manoeuvred his sword as he held it downwards towards the ground preparing to skewer Tsunami against the floor.

"MOMMA‼" Inari cried, as he threw the spoon aside after finding a more suitable thing to protect those around him. With a kitchen knife tightly clenched in his hands, the boy closed his eyes and ran towards the bandit who was about to kill his mother. However, he literally fell just short of the said bandit as the man downed by Kasumi snared Inari's ankle, causing the boy to tumble flat on his face. Zori then looked back to see the boy make his valiant effort.

"So, you decided to play hero today boy," Zori mocked. "Didn't you learn anything from Kaiza's execution? And now, you and your mom will soon join him."

With swollen yet steeled eyes, Inari swung and slashed Zori's Achilles Tendon with the knife. Having severed his body's weight from its support, the bandit lost a grip on his sword as he fell down and landed right next to the boy. Once the bandit got his bearings straight, Zori's eyes widened as he saw Inari knelt beside him with the knife held high above his head.

"YOU ARE NOT GONNA HURT MOMMA‼"

Inari closed his eyes—down went the knife deep into the man's flesh, embedding it into the neck. He lifted the knife off the body, then stabbed the man again in the eye…the jaw…the nose…the chest…and again the neck. By the time Inari opened his eyes again, he found himself completely soaked in the man's blood with a disfigured corpse before him.

"Y-You monster…" the one-eyed bandit muttered. "Y-You freaking killed Zori! You're gonna pay-"

The bandit never got to finish his threat, his life cut off by a crossbow bolt through his remaining eye and skull.

The place was silent, broken only by Inari's heavy panting. Tsunami surveyed the bloody scene: Two dead bodies, Kasumi still shaking at the door with the crossbow in her hands, and Inari completely covered in blood.

"MY BABY!" Tsunami cried as she leapt and held her son tightly in her arms. She stroked Inari's gory and sticky hair as she tried to soothe her son that everything will be alright.

"You are a good boy Inari…you are a good boy…"

As Tsunami tried to wipe the blood off Inari's face with her apron, Kasumi looked on, taking in all that had just happened. Never had she imagined that she'd do such a horrible thing. Her mind soon snapped back though, as she recalled what her Ojii-chan had tasked her with.

"I-Inari-chan, we have to leave and go somewhere safe!"

Inari looked at Kasumi, then at his mother. Gatou's goons came to try and kill them, and who knew what he had in store for their neighbours…and the rest of Nami.

"N-No…we can't just leave like this. We have to warn everyone else!"

With the bloody knife still in his hands, Inari broke off his mother's embrace and walked past Kasumi as he ran towards town.

"Wait, Inari-chan!" Kasumi left to join the boy, not wanting to abandon her duty and leave the boy alone.

Tsunami watched as the two children left. Now alone in the house with two cooling corpses, she sobbed with her hands on her face and wept for the loss of her son's innocence.

* * *

Naruto was not having the time of his life. He knew that there would be trouble as soon as that thick fog rolled in. He wanted a retreat as soon as that happened, but that Kiri-nin went straight to business without preamble and the swordsman Chojuro immediately engaged Kakashi-nii-chan. Then Uchiha and Haruno showed up to join him in the fight against the Chief Elder of Kiri, and Naruto became conflicted about the whole thing. Yes, he could certainly use any help he could get against such a dangerous foe, but his teammates were inexperienced and were prone to making mistakes.

His worst fears were realized as he and Sasuke face off against the person whom they were currently fighting: A hypnotized Haruno Sakura.

"Sakura, snap out of it!" Sasuke shouted as he tried to reach out to his teammate. "You are under genjutsu."

Sasuke was greeted with an attempted thrust to his torso with a kunai, barely having enough time to sidestep the attack. Naruto took this opportunity to grab Sakura's hand, force her to turn towards him, and gave her a hard slap on the face, causing the pink-haired girl to stumble away and fall. Sakura, however, got up quickly and looked back at them with blank eyes, seemingly unfazed by Naruto's assault on her.

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed. "I knew we should have left this hellhole when we had the chance." Naruto then turned to his teammate trying to figure out a way out of this mess. "Uchiha, have you any idea how we can break the genjutsu on her?"

"If I had my Sharingan, then I could place my own genjutsu on her to supplant the one the enemy placed on her," Sasuke speculated. "But I don't even have the Sharingan yet. Maybe if we kill her…"

"Uchiha," Naruto scolded, "don't you recall what happened to your own clan? Haruno is not a traitor; she's still our teammate."

"Ohohohoho," the genin's conversation was interrupted by the gruff laughter of the old man. The geezer hasn't even budged an inch, frustrating any efforts Naruto and Sasuke had to free Sakura. The fog thinned out just a bit, allowing the boys to just see the elder slowly execute several hand seals.

"Oh crap!" Naruto exclaimed as he recognized the hand seals from an Academy book of foreign jutsu. "Uchiha, get out of the way!"

"Suiton: Yuatsu-ramu!" (Hydraulic Ram)

Out of the mist appeared a wide stream of liquid, bearing down on Sasuke and Naruto and forcing both of them to dive to opposite sides. The liquid then slammed against the bridge deck and punched a hole through it, destabilizing the area the boys were in. Namikaze and Uchiha managed to jump in the nick of time before the section of bridge they were on finally gave way.

"So much for not damaging the bridge," Naruto grimly commented as he surveyed the destruction caused by the jutsu, Sasuke nodding back in agreement.

Desperate to gain any sort of advantage without resorting to…that, Naruto quickly slipped four seal tags from his sleeve, and threw them in the direction of the old man. The Kiri elder watched as the tags passed him…and harmlessly fizzled up in smoke.

"Kumo Ryu: Omo-"

Before Naruto was able to take a swing at the elder, he was stopped on his tracks with Sakura appearing and charging in front of him. Since when has she ever moved that fast? Just great! His problems have just been compounded by the fact that his female teammate was now being used as a human shield.

As Sakura got to within grappling range, Naruto grabbed the girl's dress with his free hand and with the right hand still holding the sword, applied some raiton chakra on her forehead using his pinkie. Hopefully, the application of chakra would disrupt the spell the old man had on her or, at the very least, paralyze her and render her harmless.

Naruto tossed his teammate aside and watched as Sasuke tried to take his own stab at the elder with great determination. However, a couple of metres before he could strike, the head of the staff which the elder was wielding flashed red, its ruby eyes appearing to stare back at Uchiha. Sasuke slowed down, then stopped. The black-haired boy briefly closed his eyes for a moment, before lifting his eyelids and revealing a blank gaze on his eyes.

"Damn it, Uchiha," Naruto cursed yet again, "why did you have to fall for that?"

The Hokage's son was forced to hold back with Uchiha in proximity and now under the Kiri Elder's spell. He narrowed his eyes further as he noticed Haruno get back up and position her kunai to fight against Naruto. Exasperated, he growled as his little hunch on how to dispel the genjutsu didn't work.

"Ohohohoho," the elder laughed, pleased with the progress he was having. Leaning against his staff, he then commanded the genin under his control. "Now, why don't the two of you be good, step aside…and fight to the death!"

To Naruto's dismay, Sakura and Sasuke jumped at each other, the sound of kunai clashing ringing about as the two swiped at each other. Not only did he have to try to keep his teammates from killing each other, he still had the Sandaime Mizukage's brother to deal with. How he wished he could be in two places at once; he should have learned the Kage Bunshin when he had the chance! As he tried to decide what course of action he should take next, the elder called him out as he issued his challenge.

"Now, Kumo-nin, let's see once and for all which of our villages is greater."

* * *

"Open up! We have to go out there and fight Gatou's men!"

"It's useless Inari…you of all people should know how futile it is to go against him…"

As the boy continued to bang at his door, the man inside just sat there dejected at the current state of affairs and refusing to acknowledge the boy. Why did the kid want throw his life away on a fight they were certain to lose? Against such an influential man, all they could do now was not cause trouble and do as he will.

"Please, open up! Grandpa is in danger, and we have to help him!"

With the door still banging, the man hesitantly made his way to the entrance, hoping to convince the kid to finally give up on this delusion of his.

"Listen Inari, you-"

The man was greeted by a ghastly and horrible sight that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Completely soaked in blood with some of that warm liquid still dripping off the knife he was holding, Inari stared back at the man with cold, piercing eyes. Right behind the boy was a ginger-haired girl wielding a loaded crossbow.

The man narrowed his eyes, unable to believe that the child had to go through this. His resolve restored and galvanized by the bloody figure, he swore that he would make those responsible for this pay for such atrocities.

"Inari…let me get my net…"

* * *

Naruto was at a loss for what to do next. Though he was unscratched himself, his teammates looked a whole lot worse for wear. All along he's been trying to keep the two from inflicting critical injuries from each other. Sasuke suffered a few deep cuts around his arms and legs, while Sakura had bruises all over her body. And they were still moving, using taijutsu techniques that the blond had never seen them use before.

Reacting quickly, Naruto deflected a shuriken aimed at Sasuke's liver using his sword, before butt-ending Haruno in the ribs using the hilt. Naruto then jumped and gave Uchiha an elbow to the face as the hypnotized boy tried to stomp on the downed girl. At this rate, Naruto feared the two of them would be slowly killed by _his_ hands.

During this brief pause, Naruto took the time to look at the Kiri Elder, the puppeteer who has been controlling each and every one of his teammates' movements. That would explain their sudden proficiency at taijutsu while not using ninjutsu at all during the fight. Naruto at first declined the elder's challenge, preferring to take care of his teammates first. But now that he had some insight of what they were under, he now had no choice but to face the old man himself.

The geezer himself has yet to make a move, seemingly spending the whole time observing Naruto. Either the elder was really itching for a fight against him, or was giving him the respect as a dangerous foe and keeping a good eye on him.

As soon as Naruto's steeled eyes met the elder's tired and droopy eyes, the fog that surrounded them quickly thickened, shrouding one from the other. Without further ado, the blond took off and positioned his sword just above his left ear. As he neared the elder, he jumped and swiftly swung his sword downward.

"Kumo Ryu: Omotegiri!" (Front Beheading)

His sword struck something that sounded something like wood mixed with stone. Hoping to capitalize on the momentum he currently had, the boy put all the weight he had on his sword, before being forced to jump back as the elder sprung a senbon trap hidden beneath his clothes. As the fog thinned yet again, Naruto watched as the Chief Elder of Kiri addressed him.

"I'm impressed that someone like you is able to move so effortlessly and comfortably within the Kirigakure no Jutsu."

"How many times do I have to tell you credit-hogs that it's not called 'Kirigakure' no Jutsu," Naruto responded, his eyes twitching in annoyance. "Besides, Kumo is not called the Village Hidden Among the Clouds for nothing."

"I see," the old man muttered, his suspicions on the boy's identity partly confirmed yet raising more questions. However, that would have to wait as his focus shifted beyond the boy to the two fighting genin. "But young man, can you save your friends in time?"

Naruto growled back at he stared at the old man, his figure becoming clearer as the fog disappeared. It seemed that the elder realized the futility of keeping the so-called Hidden 'Mist' technique active. With both hands gripping the handle, the boy lifted the sword above his head as he charged at the elder.

The elder let out a small, devious smile, believing that the boy had finally fallen for his trap. Like all disciplines, Kumo Ryu was based on specific patterns of attack, and like any pattern, he finally found a perfect tactic to counter the fighting style that defeated him long ago. With the boy in striking range, the old man applied a small dose of chakra on his staff. As Naruto made eye contact with the head of his staff, its ruby eyes flashed for the third time today. Yes, he finally managed to ensnare the boy!

"_Tsuki!_" (Throat Thrust)

Impossible! His staff should be able to place anyone making eye contact with it under genjutsu. The only one on whom this technique didn't work was the Mizukage himself, and that's because he was immune to genjutsu—no. That wasn't correct; the Mizukage was immune because he _was_ under the spell of a strong genjutsu all along.

The Chief Elder of Kiri was forced to move and bend sideways, with Naruto's blade barely missing as it slid past his neck. The boy switched fighting styles mid-fight, catching the elder off-guard. He never expected him to revert back to very simple and basic kenjutsu after what he just showed off! The old man's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Naruto's body slammed against his own, sending both combatants down onto the deck.

As the elder struggled to get back up on his knees after taking a heavy blow, Naruto continued on and rolled forward, quickly righting himself to take another swing at his enemy. Jumping back towards the elder, the Hokage's son raised his sword as he prepared his next move.

"_Men!_" (Mask Strike)

But before Naruto's attack could connect, the elder tapped his staff hard against the deck, causing the head of his staff to spew out a fine yellowish mist from its ivory teeth. Upon breathing in the noxious substance, Naruto began to cough and hack uncontrollably with eyes watering, obscuring his vision. His momentum, however, carried him forward, once again knocking the elder down with the full mass of his body as his shoulder made contact with the old man's head. Naruto then struggled as he tried to stagger away and keep his distance.

To hell with Kakashi's rules of engagement! His teammates' lives were more important than avoiding damage to the bridge. Moreover, he was now poisoned; he needed a temporary reprieve so he could at least finish this fight. Blocking out the intense burning pain in his lungs, he summoned his willpower as he coated himself with red chakra taken from Kyubi. He applied some of that demonic chakra into his sword and charged yet again at the elder (who was down on one knee).

The elder's eyes widened at what Naruto just did, recognizing the nature of the chakra the boy was using. Kumo had a third jinchuriki? But why was he with Konoha? All of a sudden, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place: the boy's immunity to genjutsu, Kumo Ryu, the Kyubi attack in Konoha and the subsequent peace treaty with Kumo—it all made sense now. And now that he had a good look at the boy, old man realized that he looked an awful lot like the Hokage.

"_Kote!_" (Glove Strike)

The elder got his hand out of the way just before Naruto's chakra-enhanced sword smashed against his staff, causing it to break in half and sending its lower portion to fly away. Closing his eyes from the flying splinters, the old man winced in pain as he felt the demonic chakra sear his bare hands. Still gripping onto what remained of his staff, the elder helplessly watched as Naruto spinned and slammed the blunt edge of his sword against his ribs.

"_Dou!_" (Armour Strike)

The old man tumbled violently to his side, forced to drop the head of his staff. Surely he cracked a few bones around his body and maybe even suffered a fracture in his leg—a critical injury for someone as old as him. Dispossessed of the weapon he has used for decades, he watched as Naruto's right leg transformed to that of a hairy demonic beast and stomped it against the head of the staff, causing it to shatter into pieces while also punching a hole on the bridge deck.

Naruto looked at the elder, slowly walking towards the downed man with his whole body and sword glowing brightly with red chakra. The old man fell in resignation as Naruto made his grim declaration:

"Seto, you made the grave mistake making an enemy out of Namikaze Naruto. Your future is death."


	13. Sakura's Prologue

Hey guys, it's me again. I'm quite impressed at the diversity of my readers, from the Faroe Islands, through the Virgin Islands, to Guam, and even in Iran! Maybe one of you can smuggle a computer in North Korea, hack an internet connection there, and read this story...

Just joking - please don't take that as a challenge.

Once again, I've released this chapter early, though I warn that the next one may be delayed: I smell employment opportunity somewhere. Anyways, here's the thirteenth chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

XIII: Sakura's Prologue

With the sound of steel grinding against steel, Sakura pushed her entire weight on her kunai, trying to overpower Sasuke to finish him off. Sasuke was doing the same, and neither could gain an advantage. Forehead protector clashed against bare forehead, as both combatants tried to headbutt the other. With their noses just millimetres apart, both of them were able to feel the other's moist breaths. Cold, uncaring, unhesitant—these were qualities some would say made the perfect shinobi.

Suddenly, both Sakura and Sasuke loosened up, the constant scratching of the kunai finally ceasing. Sakura slowly blinked, and was immediately confused when she found herself looking eye-to-eye at Sasuke with their faces almost touching each other.

"S-Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. "W-What's going on? What are you doing…what am _I_ doing?"

To her horror, Sakura realized that she was holding a kunai with her arms positioned as if she were ready to kill the love of her life. And it seemed that he was ready to do the same to her! This was not the way she envisioned things when she said she wanted to be close to him!

Sasuke blinked before responding, "I think you fell for that old man's genjutsu." Sasuke paused, frowning as he realized what happened. "We both fell for it…"

Suddenly, both genin collapsed as an immense and unbearable pain erupted, the neural signals finally registering in their minds. Sasuke grimaced as his cuts began to sting upon contact with the salty air. Sakura's body ached and throbbed at the bruises she received from Sasuke and Naruto. Neither of them could recall exactly how they received their injuries, though Sasuke speculated that the Chief Elder of Kiri made them fight each other.

The two genin looked around as they assessed the situation they found themselves in. They both shook and trembled at what they saw. On one side, Naruto was emanating a dark and evil chakra, most likely from the Kyubi, which shook them to the very core of their souls. And on the other side, things were not looking good for Kakashi-sensei.

* * *

Huffing and puffing with his heavy sword on his shoulder, Chojuro stood there and surveyed the scene as he managed to evade the latest trick Kakashi had for him. A huge hole in the bridge deck resulting from his latest attack…a dead dog wearing sunglasses right beside the hole…a discarded scroll…various kunai, shuriken, and even a pair of mangled crutches littered all over the deck. And on the other side of that hole was Kakashi down on his knees and almost seated, breathing heavily and exhausted.

Kakashi was running out of options. He wasn't even back up to fifty per cent capability to begin with. He couldn't use his Sharingan, not wishing to waste his already low chakra reserves on a skirmish within the thick mist. He could hardly move with his injuries from the last fight, expending all the available weapons…and even the crutches at his disposal. He was hoping to use Rin's dogs to immobilize the swordsman, but that ended in disaster with Chojuro even managing to pound Akino to death. He had just enough chakra left for one high-level jutsu, but seeing that his enemy was in way better shape than him, he doubted that would even make a difference.

Suddenly, both of them felt a malevolent and evil chakra permeating the atmosphere. To Chojuro's worst fears, the swordsman saw the Chief Elder lying on his side, seemingly resigned to his fate. And facing the old man was the Konoha swordsman completely enveloped in red chakra, slowly walking towards the downed man. The bespectacled boy was stunned at the turn of events: They had been dealing with a jinchuriki all this entire time—they had not counted on that! Finally, he saw blond raise his sword with his right hand, prepared to deal the final blow.

Chojuro pumped as much chakra as he could afford into his sword, and leaving Kakashi behind, immediately ran as fast as he could towards Naruto. He was unsure how he would fare upon learning of this new development, but right now, he had to give it his all save the Chief Elder.

This was the opening Kakashi was looking for. With Sharingan blazing, he flicked his forehead protector off his head, executed three quick hand seals, gathered concentrated raiton chakra on the palm of his right hand, and took off to chase after Chojuro.

* * *

"HIRAMEKAREI UNLEASHING!"

Naruto took the full brunt of the blow as Chojuro, with his sword enveloped in a hammer-shaped chakra, connected with his attack, sending the jinchuriki flying off for about ten metres. Naruto was unfazed by the attack though, his body temporarily protected by the armour of demonic chakra surrounding him. He righted himself and landed on four limbs, roughly gouging a deep rut in the bridge deck as he tried to come to a full stop.

The Konoha swordsman soon resumed his attack and launched himself towards the Kiri swordsman at full speed. Chojuro readied himself for this attack, prepared to protect the Chief Elder whatever the cost. They had to survive through this if they wanted to see their plan coming to fruition. Suddenly, the blue-haired boy realized the predicament he was caught in upon hearing the sound of a thousand birds behind him.

There was Hatake Kakashi, also running towards him at full speed from another direction, with forehead protector discarded and his Sharingan in full view. And on the palm of his right hand was the violent sparkling of raiton chakra that was fully visible with the naked eye.

"Raikiri!"

Before he was able to reach Chojuro, Kakashi suddenly felt an intense stabbing pain in his buttocks and his pelvic bone, causing the copy-nin to haphazardly fall and stumble, dissipating the jutsu. Stopping just short of the Kiri swordsman, Kakashi looked back to see what hit him—a crossbow bolt sticking out of his rear. Unfortunately for the jounin, he screamed out loud as he felt another intense pain from his left hand—the Kiri Chief Elder stabbed him with the splintered end of the lower half of the ruined staff.

"_Men!_"

Chojuro got his sword up in time as he blocked the attempted strike to his head from his Konoha counterpart. Chojuro's eyes widened in horror though as Naruto concentrated more of his bijuu chakra into his unremarkable sword, causing the sword to glow brightly as it cut through the Hiramekarei's protective layer of chakra and began digging into the legendary sword.

Naruto however, was forced to let up on his attack as he batted away at a stone hurled at him with his chakra-covered arm. The jinchuriki turned to see who attacked him this time, and narrowed his eyes at what he saw.

At the Nami end of the bridge was a mob about fifty to sixty strong, armed with crude implements such as slingshots, pitchforks, nets, fishing spears…even a rubber mallet. Naruto scrowled even further upon seeing who was leading the mob: The bridge builder's grandson all covered in blood, and that damn girl with the crossbow who interrupted him the last time around.

"Leave Grandpa alone," Inari declared, "or else…"

Meanwhile, the elder's heart sank upon seeing Kasumi with the mob. Of all people, why did she have to befriend the target's grandson? Should they live through this, how would they explain this to her?

"I knew it! You wanted Kakashi-nii-chan dead!" Naruto roared, mistakenly believing that Nami no Kuni were after them after all. Then pointing his sword at Kasumi, he barked out, "Uchiha, kill that girl‼"

Sakura's eyes widened upon hearing Naruto's orders, shocked that her teammate would not hesitate to kill such a seemingly adorable and helpless girl. Sure, the kid was armed with a crossbow, but this was all a misunderstanding, right? Had she done anything to warrant Naruto's wrath? Need they resort to such a barbaric thing?

Sasuke meanwhile was struggling just to get up on his four limbs. Though he still had plenty of chakra in reserve, his fight with Sakura (and Naruto) had taken a huge toll on his body. And now that he was actually being told to kill someone, an eight-year old girl out of all people (and guarded by dozens of men), he began to question himself whether this was all necessary. Sapped of his will from all this confusion, he collapsed and watched the mob slowly close in on them.

"You won't lay a hand on Kasumi-chan!"

Chojuro crouched down, extended his right leg, and swiped at Naruto's legs, causing the jinchuriki to fall down on the bridge deck. Getting back up, the Swordsman of Kiri channeled chakra into his sword, forming it into the shape of an axe.

Quick to react, Naruto let his sword go and sprung towards Chojuro as he got up, headbutting the blue-haired boy in the gut in the process. With the wind taken out of him, Chojuro was forced to let his own sword go as the two remaining combatants rolled against the hard concrete. By the time they stopped, Naruto ended up sitting on top of Chojuro's chest.

Naruto took a quick glance at the bridge; the mob was closing in on them. He had to end this once and for all, and show them that Konoha will not go down so easily! He raised his right hand, transforming it into the paw of a fox complete with sharp claws, and prepared himself to rip Chojuro apart into pieces.

"CHOJURO-ONII-CHAN‼"

Naruto was thrown back, and found a bolt lodged in his shoulder. Damn those point-and-shoot weapons! Once he's done with the swordsman, that girl will pay!

CLAP! CLAP!

The sound of someone slowly clapping stopped Naruto before he could act any further. Turning to the unfinished end of the bridge to see who was clapping, Naruto (and the rest of those on the bridge) saw a short stout man in sunglasses wearing a spiffy new suit. And before that man were about four dozen thugs brandishing swords, maces, and various weapons.

"Seto, Chojuro," the short man spoke, "I see the two of you have failed on your task. Not only did you not kill Tazuna as I asked, but you also managed to rally the people of Nami behind him."

Kasumi dropped her crossbow upon hearing this shocking revelation from Gatou. Her Ojii-chan and Chojuro-onii-chan were the ones who were going to kill Inari-chan's grandpa? Not those Konoha-nin? With eyes welling up, Kasumi turned to the Kiri Elder, hoping that Gatou was lying, but she was greeted with the old man's head turned away in shame.

"But I see that you did quite a number on those Konoha-nin," Gatou continued. "I guess their bodies—and yours would fetch quite a hefty sum in the bounty market."

Gatou laughed, the ninja seemingly weakened and his goons ready to finish what the two Kiri-nin couldn't. He got rid of all his problems in one fell swoop, and he need not even spend a single ryo on it!

Meanwhile, Naruto lowly growled upon hearing of Gatou's boasts. So the bridge builder was indeed telling the truth…but only after the said person lied to them. Thinking back on how the Raikage told him of what he did in Konoha after the Kyubi attack, Naruto reluctantly admitted that Kakashi was right, and the situation had indeed changed.

"Tazuna-san," Naruto muttered, catching the attention of the bridge builder. "You should have told Hokage the whole truth to begin with. Father would have sent his best ninja to deal with this menace quickly."

"Me, menace?" Gatou mocked. "Let's see you deal with my men, Konoha-nin!"

As the Nami mob prepared to clash against Gatou's approaching gang, Naruto closed his blue eyes to meditate deeply in his mind.

* * *

"Kyu-chan! I'm back!"

In the middle of a vast open field surrounded by luscious green grass sat what was supposed to be the most fearsome of all bijuu, Kyubi no Yoko. It just sat there, slumbering away the days with all nine tails tucked into its body. The beast slowly lifted its right eye, narrowly glaring at its current source of irritation.

"**What do you want now, boy?"**

"Kyu-chan, I have a present for you!" Naruto cheerfully replied, standing right before the muzzle of the fox-figure.

Greatly annoyed at the blond's antics, Kyubi growled back. **"Oh no, you won't. I refuse to do all the dirty jobs for you! You are not my master!"**

"Aww, c'mon!" Naruto complained, before walking to the beast's head and rubbing his cheek against Kyubi's rich, soft, furry cheek. "I thought all you ever existed for was carnage and bloodlust."

Kyubi immediately flung its head around towards Naruto and snapped its jaw shut, hoping to ensnare him and bid for freedom. Too bad for Kyubi; it now found Naruto standing on top of its muzzle, staring back square at it in between its eyes.

"Tsk, tsk, Kyu-chan, you know that won't work on me anymore," the jinchuriki reminded. "Besides, you'll get a taste of the real world…"

"**I refuse to give into your temptations, you whelp,"** Kyubi shot back, before shutting its eye trying to ignore the boy.** "So why don't you just get strong, kill Madara, then die, so I can finally have my freedom."**

"Fine, be that way Kyu-chan," Naruto responded, jumping off Kyubi's muzzle onto the ground as he began walking away. "Just don't tell me that I never tried treating you nicely."

As Naruto disappeared from the open mindscape, Kyubi couldn't help but open an eye again, curious as to what sort of carnage the jinchuriki had in store for those bandits.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes, its irides now red and pupils shaped into a narrow vertical slit. Bearing his fangs out in a wide grin, the jinchuriki got up on one knee and pulled the embedded bolt out of his shoulder. Now standing, the blond felt his wound heal as he watched Gatou's gang charging at him to try and take him down.

"Hehehehe, Gatou…my pleasure!"

He flared out Kyubi's demonic chakra for all to feel, stopping everyone from their tracks. Naruto then flung the bolt he was holding at Gatou's gang, easily piercing seven…ten men with a single shot. The first four of the stricken men began to convulse as their blood mixed with the tainted blood of the jinchuriki.

Grabbing the two handles of the Hiramekarei while charging at the goons, Naruto pumped his chakra into the sword wondering what this sword could do for him. The chakra around the sword immediately shaped itself to that of a spiked mace. Testing out the sword, the Hokage's son began to hack and smash his way through the enemies.

Sakura watched in horror of what her teammate was doing. Limbs and guts flying off, blood being sprayed about, bodies bursting into pieces upon taking a blow from the Hiramekarei—it was not pretty. In retrospect, she would rather have dealt with a drunken man's advances on her than witness all this carnage. Then a piece of some man's bowels, still full of its foul contents, landed before Sakura and Sasuke. Shaking and trembling at the mere sight of things and overpowered by its stench, she bowed to the side and spilled her breakfast onto the bridge deck.

Naruto meanwhile has just taken care of the last of the thugs—forty-four by his last count. With his body still wrapped in demonic chakra, Naruto turned and slowly walked towards the root of all this mess.

"Gatou, any words before I continue?"

Having just wet and soiled himself, Gatou stammered as he desperately tried to bargain for his life. "I-I will give you money…w-women…p-power…anything I have! J-Just don't kill me."

Naruto furrowed his brow, looking down on the man trying to bribe his way out of this. He turned back, and saw the mixed looks of shock, awe, and bloodlust at the mob's faces. He recalled what Tazuna told them during the interrogation; that Gatou robbed Nami of everything they had. Naruto then looked back at Gatou with a mischievous and vicious grin on his face.

"Granted!"

Naruto sliced Gatou's legs off just above his knees, causing the criminal mastermind to cry out in pain as he fell face-first on the bridge deck. The man's screams got louder as he felt Kyubi's burning chakra cauterize his wounds at where he was amputated, stopping him from bleeding yet slowly eating away at what was left of his legs.

"Money…I'll take it. Women…don't need them (yet). Power…I already have it. Everything you have is now Nami's. And you will live to face justice from those whom you have wronged."

Naruto grabbed Gatou by the hair, and unceremoniously dragged him back to the mob that's eagerly waiting to get their hands on him.

* * *

Tenzo frowned at the sight that greeted his team upon reaching the coast separating Hi no Kuni from Nami no Kuni. There were body parts littered everywhere—from their side of the coast, all over the strait, and even seeing more at the Nami side. It seemed that the mission that Team Kakashi was assigned with had its…complications.

Team Kakashi failed to report back a week after their expected arrival. The Hokage was insistent that the genin team did not defect from Konoha: Kakashi was his student, Naruto was his son, Sakura was a newbie, and Sasuke…well he had Kakashi and Naruto to keep him in check. Fearing that they have suffered the same fate as the Demon Brothers, the Hokage sent Tenzo, Yugao, and Torune to search for them and investigate the situation.

"Taichou," as Yugao interrupted Tenzo's thoughts, "it seems that this piece of torso has suffered being struck by a big, blunt, and heavy object."

"And these bugs tell me that they have been dead for about four days," Torune added, "maybe more, considering the tides."

Tenzo sighed as he applied some of his chakra on the body part Yugao has found. "I feel a faint trace of…its chakra lingering in this. Considering there are no reports out there of a nine-tailed demon running amok, it would be safe to say that at least the Hokage's son is still alive."

The three ANBU agents looked at each other to decide the next course of action. In silent understanding, they nodded at each other and took off towards the waters of the strait as they made their way to Nami no Kuni.

* * *

With the cool breeze caressing her neck and the fragrant scents of the late-spring blooms wafting around her, Sakura watched two dragonflies beat their wings as she silently pondered on the million things that happened a few days ago.

She was weak. That was the harsh conclusion she came up with upon thinking about everything. She let herself be taken under that old man's genjutsu…she let the geezer control her body and almost killed her beloved Sasuke-kun because of it.

But then there was Naruto. Yes, it pained her to see him writhe in agony, coughing and hacking as soon as he dissipated Kyubi's chakra after handing Gatou over to the crowd. But was everything he did before that really necessary? Was this the way of the ninja, brutally slaughtering all those who opposed them?

"Haruno, fancy seeing you here…"

Sakura turned to see the blond teammate limping towards her. He was out like a lamp for two straight days, his body struggling to deal with the poison that the Kiri Elder had inflicted on him. Sure, it was nice for the Kiri-nin to offer the antidote after the battle, but that did not lessen that feeling of uselessness in her.

But aside from concern, there was another feeling about Naruto brewing deep within Sakura: Fear.

"N-Naruto-kun," Sakura stammered. "I-I didn't see you there…"

Naruto raised his brow at the pink-haired girl's reaction. "Haruno, is something the matter?"

There he was—the boy acting as if nothing happened.

"Did you have to be such a cruel and brutal monster, resorting to violence just like that?" Sakura yelled, her feelings about this unleashed after being pent up the past few days.

"Umm, thank you, Haruno?" Naruto replied, unsure why his teammate was upset at him at the same time.

"That was not a compliment, you jerk! You killed all those men…you even told Sasuke-kun to kill that little girl!"

"They threatened us," Naruto responded. "Gatou sent his men forward, and that Kasumi girl shot Kakashi-nii-chan in the ass and me on the shoulder!"

"And the way you killed them, it looked like you were enjoying yourself!"

"Listen, Haruno. That Kasumi and Inari already scored their first kills before you. Do you think those kids were after the bandits' blood?"

"N-no…" Sakura muttered. "Th-they had to protect Tsunami-san…"

"And that is what we do as ninja," Naruto declared. "We protect people, kill if necessary. If you don't like the job description, then you may wish to consider retiring upon our return."

Sakura weakly asked. "B-but is it really necessary to kill? Is there another way?"

"Haruno, remember what I told Inari: Strength and respect are all that matters in this world. This is what kept Kumo on top for all these years. And quite frankly, even though I highly dislike that girl, Kasumi is more deserving of anyone's respect than you. You have neither—what are you going to do about it?"

Naruto paused, allowing Sakura to deeply think about her teammate's stern assessment of her. Was her will really that weak? Did she deserve to wear the Konoha forehead protector on her head?

"Haruno, I came to let you know that Tsunami-san prepared dinner. You better come back before the food gets cold."

As Naruto limped back to their current accommodations, Sakura just remained seated, drawing her legs towards her chest and wrapping them tightly with her arms with a million thoughts whirling around her head. Where was she in the book of life? Was this just a prologue of what's to come? Why did she become a ninja—to chase for love…pleasure from Sasuke-kun? Alone in this clear and gentle night, Sakura deeply sighed as she discerned her future. She never thought that at this point in her life, she would be feeling alone, seemingly left behind as those around her progressed through their careers.

* * *

"If what you're saying is true, then why not come with us and seek refuge in Konoha?"

Chojuro sighed as he tried to come up with a response to Kakashi's question. He was paying the injured Konoha-nin a visit to apologize for what had happened and explain their actions. Fortunately for the Kiri Swordsman, Kakashi seemed receptive to what he had to say, even offering to help with their quest despite the injuries he and Kasumi had caused.

"I-I'm sorry, Hatake-san, I'm afraid that we have to decline your generous offer. This is something that Kiri has to handle on its own."

Lying on his belly (due to the injury on his buttocks), Kakashi looked back at Chojuro, somewhat surprised at his response.

"Why not? Our village…maybe even Kumo will be willing to aid you. I know you think this merely an internal matter, but if someone like the Mizukage is being controlled by someone, then I'm afraid that this issue now involves Konoha and Kumo."

"H-How so?" Chojuro asked. "Mizukage-sama…or whoever's controlling him probably won't risk a war against the other villages."

"Chojuro-san, about twelve years ago, someone tried to take Kyubi away from Konoha." Kakashi explained. "You're aware of how that turned out. When things finally calmed down, Minato-sensei and Ei-dono determined that Uchiha Madara was the one responsible and will strike again to go after the other bijuu."

"U-Uchiha Madara?" Chojuro stammered, shaking as he heard the name of one of a handful of people in history to be able to exert full control of a tailed beast. "Y-You think he wants Sanbi?"

"That's my suspicion. Who else out there would be capable of casting such a powerful genjutsu?"

Chojuro thought through Kakashi's explanation on why Konoha would be interested. Should he accept the offer, he would have the backing of two major ninja villages. That would pretty much eliminate the need to do rogue missions to finance his quest, and fully concentrate on the task at hand.

On the other hand, the Chief Elder warned him of what could potentially happen should things escalate out of control. The old man reminded him of the events surrounding the disappearance of the Sandaime Kazekage, and how that all spun out to trigger the Third Shinobi War. Moreover, should they join a foreign force, they would forever be labeled as traitors to Kiri with no hope of redemption instead of merely being missing-nin.

"I'm sorry, Hatake-san," Chojuro once again apologized, bowing his head profusely, "there's just too much at stake for us here. We don't want to cause a Fourth Shinobi War. We would appreciate it if you would respect our decision."

"I guess I understand your sentiments," Kakashi replied, still doubtful as to whether Chojuro will be able to follow through on his plan. "Just know that the Hokage and Raikage will be made aware of what you've just told me. Konoha and Kumo had long been preparing for this, and this is a fresh lead to what Madara may be planning."

"But-"

"We can't predict whether Madara wants a war or not; he had been acting covertly all this time, but now he may have control of the Mizukage. However, we…at least in Konoha…will do our best to keep things from escalating and you may rest assured that this won't be blamed on you. Other than that, we wish you the very best on your quest."

As Kakashi finished, Chojuro's eyes drooped, worried that he just opened a can of worms. All he wanted to do to begin with was to restore the Mizukage, not depose him. He just hoped that Konoha and (especially) Kumo will not end up taking things over the top and cause unnecessary trouble.

* * *

"Ah, at last, we're leaving!"

Naruto stood restless and fidgety outside of Tazuna's house, with Uchiha wrapped in bandages beside him and Haruno saying her farewells to Tsunami-san. Still inside were Kakashi, along with Tenzo-san and his companions. The reinforcements his father sent arrived late last night, and that finally allowed them to leave Nami no Kuni right away, no longer having to wait for Kakashi's lower-body injury to heal up.

The Hokage's son watched as Tenzo finally left the house, followed by Kakashi (slung in a litter) being carried by Yugao and Torune. Walking behind them was Tazuna, his head hanging down and avoiding eye-contact with the Konoha-nin.

"Tazuna-san," Tenzo said, "we're aware that this country has other financial obligations, but remember that you owe Konoha payment for both an A-ranked and a B-ranked mission."

"Plus interest if you don't pay up…" Naruto added, still not over the stunt that Tazuna pulled on them.

"Mah, mah, Naruto-kun," Kakashi interjected, "there's no need to scare the client like that. As long as he makes his payments in a timely fashion, he wouldn't have to worry about his debt to us growing larger. Besides, they should be able to access Gatou's treasury anytime soon."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said impatiently, "can't we just go and leave now?"

"Whatever you say."

Tazuna and Tsunami looked on as the Konoha-nin disappeared into the surrounding forest. Despite their victory, Nami no Kuni was still had a long road to recovery ahead of them. Part of the bridge had to be demolished and repaired before they could continue work, and they had to convince merchants out there that Nami no Kuni was once again open for business.

"Dad, what should we name the bridge when we finish it?"

Tazuna thought of all the recent events leading to their liberation…and all the ninja who tried to kill him. In the end, he thought about the ninja whom he (mistakenly) thought had the least likely chance of killing him.

"Tsunami, how does Seto Ohashi (Great Seto Bridge) sound?"

* * *

"Please…have mercy on me…kill me…"

Sakura cringed and the contents of her stomach upturned as she saw the sight of Gatou's still-living body tied on a tree. His arms were chopped off by the mob, its stumps showing burns to stop him from quickly bleeding to death. His torso was tied tightly to the trunk with thin wire, painfully cutting through his bare skin. The skin beneath his leg stump was pinched between freshly-cut bone and hard wood supporting him underneath, causing the criminal great agony. And it seemed that an animal began gnawing at what remained of his right arm.

"Sakura, don't look away," Kakashi said from his sling, hoping to give Sasuke and Sakura a lesson. "This is the ultimate fate of criminals who prey on defenseless people."

As Sakura tried to muster enough will to look at the condemned criminal, Sasuke took a step forward, closely watching Gatou's anguish.

"Sensei," Sasuke asked, "why not just kill him?"

"Uchiha, sometimes there are fates worse than death," Naruto answered for Kakashi. "This criminal made Nami suffer for a long time, and Nami decided to pay him back fully for all that he did. They don't want to give him that comfort."

"I-Isn't that just plain cruelty?" Sakura muttered.

"Haruno, this is reality. It's the will of the people."

"P-Please…I'm sorry…have mercy…"

Naruto looked at the suffering form of Gatou, who was begging him to end his life. With calculating eyes, he reached for the inside of his sleeve, and pulled out a seal tag inscribed with a complex pattern. He then flung the seal tag to Gatou's body, causing it to stick to the chest. The tag then glowed before it fused with the body.

"AAARRRGGGHHH‼"

"Naruto!" Tenzo yelled. "What did you do to him?"

Naruto smirked, "Considering the amount of chakra I've just stored in that tag, let's just say that Gatou will have one additional week to think of his evil deeds."

Sakura's eyes welled up, the haunting visions of a man suffering assaulting her senses. And Naruto-kun extended his life just to prolong his agony. This was already much for her.

"Sakura," Kakashi commanded, "let's go."

And so, with the two ANBU agents carrying Kakashi on in his litter, the Konoha party left the vicinity, leaving Gatou to suffer the rest of his life in pure agony alone.

* * *

**PS:** Thus ends the Nami Arc. I hope you enjoyed the story so far. See you later!


	14. So Very Hot

Hey guys, it me again. It seems that some of you are suffering from mood whiplash from reading my fic, and I guess I owe some of you an explanation. I do acknowledge that this story has its slow and heavy moments, and its light and funny moments - just like the swings of a pendulum. Such is life. Everyone have their own preferences and are entitled to their opinion...that's what the review section is for after all. So power to you guys! Anyways, if you're still on board, strap yourselves in 'cause you're in for one hell of a ride!

Well, not this chapter. This is one of those slice-of-life moments like the Kumo chapters. Anyways, enjoy!

And if you're from Kyoto Animation or Pony Canyon, please don't sue me.

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

XIV: So Very Hot

Leaning heavily on the bridge railing, Haruno Sakura was looking out at the river below on this bright, clear morning in Konohagakure no Sato. Even though they've already returned, she still couldn't get the thoughts that had been lingering in her head from their mission to Nami no Kuni. Sure, the Hokage told her that she acted well for a genin fresh out of Academy unwittingly thrust into an A-ranked situation. Yet she took little solace in the Hokage's words, having seen the dangers and horrors of the job herself with Naruto's harsh yet accurate assessment of her ringing over and over in her head.

The pink-haired girl turned to look at Sasuke-kun, in no mood to fantasize and swoon at him this time. He seemed to be dealing with this well…at least a whole lot better than her. Perhaps having seen almost his entire clan slaughtered right before his eyes has desensitized him of all the bloodshed. Did Sasuke-kun have nightmares like her days…months after the fact? Will she be able to get over this apprehension of hers and learn to deal with this like a true ninja?

"Urgh…so…hot…"

Sakura leaned over the railing, and saw Naruto lying under the bridge all splayed out wearing a yellow t-shirt and shorts. Already drenched in sweat, the blond was weakly waving at himself with a cheap _uchiwa_ (fan) he won at the _takoyaki_ stand yesterday. Sakura just deadpanned at the sight: Just yesterday, he was all poised and professional about things, yet now he's acting like a spoiled brat!

"Naruto," Sasuke started with an eye twitching, "it's only twenty-two degrees, and you're already complaining it's hot?"

"It never gets this hot in Kaminari no Kuni…"

"And why are you dressed in house clothes?" Sasuke continued. "Besides, don't you normally drag Kakashi-sensei out here at this time?"

"Uchiha, one, it's hot! Two, we're on vacation. Three, it's hot! Four, my clothes are being patched up at the tailor. Five, it's hot! Six, Kakashi-nii-chan's injured. And seven, it's freaking hot!"

"Oh yeah, Hokage-sama gave us a week off," Sasuke said.

"Naruto-kun, you said 'hot' four times…" Sakura muttered.

"That's because it's really hot!" Naruto complained. "Great, I'm now starting to sound like Atsui…"

Sasuke and Sakura sighed, unable to comprehend why Naruto felt this mid-June weather was hot. Just he wait 'til August arrives!

"Now what are you two doing here in this hellish weather?"

"Umm, we thought we had a meeting today, Naruto-kun."

"And what about you, Naruto?" Sasuke shot back.

"The apartment is unbearable; we're on the top floor for crying out loud! This is the coldest place I can find around here…"

The two genin on the bridge had their eyes twitch again as their teammate below lazily rolled around in the shadow seeking the sweet comfort of the still-cold ground. Sasuke could only slap his own head in disbelief at what Naruto was doing.

"Please don't say you're this lazy."

"This weather's making me crazy…"

"So you're planning to waste the entire day rolling around in dirt?"

"You got that right…"

Was this the way they were going to spend the rest of their time off? Just hang around and doing nothing? Sure, it was nice to get a few days of rest, but their preceding mission made it clear that they were still a long way from being assigned A or B-ranked missions.

"S-Sasuke-kun," Sakura chirped in, "how about we do some training today?"

"Hmpf," Sasuke replied, "I guess that's better than nothing. And you're joining us, Naruto."

"Do I have to?" The blond complained. "Can't we do this at night?"

"You said so yourself to try to minimize our weaknesses," Sasuke justified, while letting out a small smirk in his face. "This is a good time to work on yours."

Sasuke then jumped down and grabbed Naruto by the collar of his shirt.

"Oi, Uchiha, where are you taking me?"

"Welcome to the Land of Fire."

As Sasuke dragged Naruto out of the shadows of the bridge and into the bright sun on their way to the training grounds, Naruto couldn't help but squint as he felt the sun's warm rays shone on his bare skin.

"I'm melting, Uchiha…" Naruto wailed. "I'm melting…"

* * *

"It's nice of you to pay me a visit, sensei."

"I just want to check up on how my student is faring."

Minato watched as Kakashi squirmed around belly-down on his hospital bed. From what he's read from the doctor's reports, his student has mostly recovered from the injuries he sustained from fighting the swordsman. However, the papers warned that his wound from the crossbow shot would take some more time to heal.

"I suppose you're here for something else other than inquiring about my health"

"Kakashi," Minato started, "I want your honest opinion. Tazuna deceived us about the scope of his mission, and that got me worried about the state your students are in. I'm wondering what you think of them right now."

Kakashi started, "I'm mostly worried if Sakura could pull through this. No genin should have been exposed to such dangers this early in their careers, and I think she's starting to question and doubt herself…maybe even quit. She still has a lot of room for improvement, but I was hoping to develop her gradually through time instead of having this suddenly shoved in her face.

"Sasuke, on the other hand, seems to be handling this well considering what he went through a few years ago. However, he's still obsessed with vengeance for his clan, though that toned down quite a bit since he joined the team. But he still scoffs at a lot of things that I say; I have a gut feeling that the only person Sasuke trusts right now is Naruto."

Minato commented. "Well, at least that's better than him trusting no one."

"And Naruto," Kakashi continued, "we both know what he's capable of. I don't think that we can train him further in the shinobi arts—Kumo has already done that for us. What he needs right now is experience. And I think you'll agree with me that his decision-making capability leaves much to be desired."

The Hokage sighed, nodding at Kakashi's assessment. Despite his wishes, his son was still a firm believer in Kumo's philosophy. Sure, it held some merits, but one of his genin was now on the verge of retiring because of it. Can't his son just tone things down by just a teeny bit? He hoped that he could undo some of the 'damage' already done, and help Sakura get her confidence back.

"Kakashi," Minato said, "this may seem too soon for your team after such a mission, but you're aware what's going to happen here in Konoha next week."

The jounin let out a visible scrowl on his face as he caught on what his sensei was implying.

"You know Naruto will not like this one bit, right?"

* * *

Naruto wavered around the riverbank seeking refuge from this oppressive heat after being forced to train with Uchiha and Haruno earlier in the day. Alright, the heat's not that oppressive (for everyone else); it's only twenty-five degrees. But the Kumo-raised jinchuriki has never been subjected to such persistently high temperatures before.

As Naruto leaned on a tree, panting with his tongue sticking out, he saw a bunch of girls in swimsuits standing in the river splashing at each other. Seriously, even the water was warm. How could they, or everyone else in Konoha, take this heat!

"Ohohohoho, those are some nice curves you have there…"

Naruto's eye twitched as he heard that annoyingly familiar voice. Hiding behind a tree trunk, it seemed that he's in Konoha and back to his old antics.

"Oi...Ero-sennin…what are you up to this time?"

Setting his telescope aside, a visible vein throbbed on Jiraiya's forehead as he once again heard what Minato's little brat called him. He raised his brow though upon seeing that Naruto was more lethargic than usual.

"Naruto-kun, shouldn't you be more excited to see The Great Jiraiya-Sama?" The Toad Sage deadpanned.

"Not in the mood, Ero-sennin," Naruto panted, "way too hot in here…"

"Ah, yes, you're correct, young one: It's indeed hot in here. Especially those girls, hehehe…" Jiraiya said as he ended with a chuckle.

"That's not what I meant, you pervert…"

"Correction: Super-Pervert!"

"Urgh," Naruto muttered in annoyance. "Can you just stop perving around and buy me some ice cream?"

"Look brat, I'm in the middle of doing some research here, so why don't you just scram and be quiet?"

"But I want ice cream! ICE CREAM‼"

The Gama-sennin let out a frustrated growl at Naruto and his childish antics. Well, yeah, the blond was still twelve, but he was also a full-fledged ninja of the village. Couldn't he do something more in line with teenagers such as, say, join him in his research?

Suddenly, a light bulb just popped inside his head.

"Oi, Naruto, you said you want a way to be cool?"

"So we're having ice cream?"

"No, I have this!"

Jiraiya suddenly pushed Naruto at great speed, causing the twelve-year old to swiftly skip across the shallow river. Somehow, he managed to avoid hitting the riverbed in the process. Once he slowed down enough, he managed to right himself, annoyed yet somewhat impressed that the Toad Sage managed to avoid getting him injured in waters merely half a metre deep.

"What was that for!" Naruto exclaimed, fuming that his father's sensei just soaked him from head to toe with warm water in this weather.

"Awww, who do we have here?"

Naruto turned, and found himself in the shadows of three teenage girls six to seven years his senior. To his dismay, the girls looked like they were ready to pounce on him.

"Are you lost, little boy?" One of them cooed.

"So cute! He just looks like a miniature version of Hokage-sama…"

"Wait, maybe he is the son everyone's talking about!"

The girls squealed, and promptly grabbed Naruto to pinch his cheeks and hug him and cuddle him. Naruto can't take this anymore, trying to squirm his way out with their hot, sticky, sweaty skin rubbing against his in this muggy weather. Unfortunately for him, resistance was futile.

And Jiraiya grinned, happily scribbling away in his notebook.

* * *

A female medic opened the door as she entered the morgue of Konoha Hospital, not really looking forward to the task ahead of her. Sure, today she was lucky that there weren't any bodies currently in the storage units. But that didn't make her job any more pleasant, having to inspect and clean the whole place.

She quickly proceeded to the storage units, checking to see that everything was in working order. One never knows when someone will die, and the department had to make sure they're ready to take bodies in at a moment's notice. One by one, the medic opened the units, checking each one of them for temperature, cleanliness, and mechanical condition.

The medic then tugged on the seventh unit, and noticed that the door was a bit heavy. Something to be noted. She then pulled the unit open, and was aghast at what she saw.

Inside was a young boy with blond hair and whisker-shaped birthmarks on his cheeks, wearing nothing but a flimsy shirt and a pair of shorts. And the boy seemed to have his eyes wide open with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Umm…hello?"

"G-GYYAAAAAAA‼"

The medic fainted, prompting Naruto to slowly rise up and sit on the unit he was in. Moments later, an army of doctors, medics and ANBU stormed in with weapons drawn expecting trouble, but finding a curious scene in front of them.

"Er, sorry about that," as Naruto scratched his head. "I just visiting Kakashi-nii-chan, and I wanted to find somewhere to cool off on this hot day."

One of the ANBU, Torune if he remembered correctly, stepped forward and gave Naruto a stern look.

"Honourable Son, the storage units of the morgue is not something to keep yourself cool with! Besides, it's not even hot."

As the ANBU escorted the boy off the hospital grounds, Naruto grumbled under his breath, trying to think of another way to take shelter from this horrid weather.

* * *

"So…very…hot…"

Sasuke sighed in exasperation as he watched Naruto pathetically wave his fan in an effort to keep cool under the bridge in this bright late morning. All week long, his teammate practically did nothing but complain about the weather. Well, he did suggest training at night, and Sasuke invited the blond over last night. But all the Hokage's son seemed to be interested in was fun and games, bringing something called a video game console with him last night. They never even got to training. And the lazy one even had the gall to sleep the night over at his place, citing the unbearable heat back in his apartment.

"We should have trained last night, Naruto."

"That can wait 'till Kakashi-nii-chan gets well. Besides, we have this saying in Kumo: 'All work and no play makes Uchiha a dull boy'."

Sasuke's eye ticced at the blatant insult Naruto just gave him. The Hokage's son may have the luxury of slacking off given his 'status', but Sasuke himself was still a long way to even remotely think of taking Madara on. He wanted to train, yet the blond mocked him! As Sakura looked on, Sasuke jumped down, landing about a metre from Naruto's prone form.

"Look at you, Naruto: Being a sissy and unable to take this weather." Sasuke goaded. "Only whimps use a fan!"

"Eh? So you're telling me that your clan are a bunch of whimps?" Naruto lazily shot back. "You have a freaking fan proudly printed at the back of your shirt. Heck, your clan is even named after a fan, _u-chi-wa_…"

Sasuke growled, and promptly snatched the fan from Naruto's weak grasp.

"Uchiha…I want my fan back…"

Sasuke walked away with the fan, silently ignoring Naruto's groans as the sluggish boy lamely reached his hand out to him while still lying on the ground.

"Uchiha…give me back my _uchiwa_…"

As Sasuke made his way towards the wooden bridge deck, he stopped as he saw a jounin with spiky white hair leaning against a post with a crutch underneath his right armpit.

"Kakashi-sensei, they just released you from hospital?"

"Actually, I was discharged last night. I was just coming from the jounin's meeting this morning, and I kinda figured that Naruto-kun will rope the two of you in hanging around with him under this bridge."

"Umm," Sakura muttered, "I think Naruto-kun's here because he thinks this is the coldest place in Konoha."

"Those guys in the hospital didn't have to kick me out…" Naruto pouted.

"So I've heard," Kakashi responded, while the other two genin showed puzzled looks in their faces. It seemed that the two of them haven't heard of this story yet.

"Now what brings you here an hour early than usual for your biological clock, Kakashi-nii-chan?"

Seeing that Naruto will not likely move from his spot, Kakashi motioned for Sasuke and Sakura to join their teammate under the bridge. Kakashi himself stayed above the embankments, his injuries making the journey down too tough to negotiate.

"As I've already told you, I'm just coming off a meeting this morning." Kakashi began. "Naruto may already know of this, but just to inform you that in three days time, the Chunin Selection Exams will begin right here in Konoha."

"So, you're telling us that Otousan will cut our vacation short and have us run errands to prepare for the event?" Naruto yapped out, still splayed out fully on the ground. "Unless he gives us ice cream or iced tea before, during, and after those errands, I say it's way too hot to do anything right now…"

"Actually, you'll still get the remaining three days off."

"Kakashi-sensei, why are you telling us this?" Sakura asked, having an uneasy feeling within her about this.

The jounin sighed as he prepared for the worst, "I've nominated the three of you to participate in the Chunin Exams."

And then there was silence. The two graduates from Konoha Academy was stunned by Kakashi's endorsement. Sakura was somewhat flattered that she was nominated, but she was still unsure of herself with all that happened in Nami recently. Sasuke, meanwhile, saw this as an opportunity to push himself, and see where he really stood compared to shinobi around the world. He was praised as a god during Academy, but felt like a mook compared to Naruto. Hopefully, the exams will help determine how strong he really was.

And Naruto…

"Eh? Can you repeat what you said, Kakashi-nii-chan?"

"I said the three of you will be taking the Chunin Exams."

And another awkward pause…

"NO FREAKING WAY‼" Naruto erupted, finally standing up after spending a good part of three hours lying on the ground. Kakashi sighed in the meantime, expecting this would happen all along.

"Naruto," Sasuke cut in, "what's wrong with you? I thought you wanted better missions, but you want to remain a genin?"

"Oh, I want to be chunin alright! Just not this way by the Chunin Exams."

"And why not?"

"I'm not going to give all those snobs and gamblers the satisfaction of being entertained on our courtesy!"

"Naruto-kun, that's not really what the Chunin Exams are all about," as Kakashi spoke again. "Besides, the candidates have to enter as a team of three, so you really don't have a choice in the matter."

"Why can't we do this the normal way and assign us an enabling mission? Real ninja should be promoted doing real missions!"

"You're not in Kumo anymore, Naruto." Kakashi chided. "The Chunin Exams are the normal way for Konoha genin to be promoted to chunin."

"And I say that many of this village's genin fluke in and manage to get themselves killed soon after becoming chunin."

"We can have this discussion later, Naruto," as Kakashi sighed yet again at the jinchuriki's insolence. "Now the three of you will meet in three days time at the Academy in Room 301 at 0900h. Be sure to read everything in these pamphlets and fill out the forms."

Kakashi tossed the said pamphlets to each of his students below, with Sasuke catching it, Sakura fumbling it, and Naruto dodging it like a plague and letting it hit the river behind him. Kakashi rubbed his head fighting off another headache, not really looking forward to returning to the Hokage Office and go through all that paperwork again.

"I suggest the three of you spend the remaining days preparing yourselves. Aside from Konoha-nin, there will be plenty of foreign ninja participating in the Exams, so it would be wise to expect the unexpected. Any questions, Sasuke, Sakura?"

"Umm…er…I guess not, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura responded.

"I guess I'll go train." Sasuke muttered as he climbed the embankment and began walking off towards the Uchiha compound.

"That's right, Uchiha, go knock yourself out!" Naruto mocked, hoping that his teammate would overdo his training enough to get them disqualified.

Sasuke's shoulder showed a visible tic upon hearing Naruto's jeers. Oh, he knew what the blond was trying to do to him! There will not be a repeat of that stupid bell test again!

As the three watched the Uchiha disappear into the streets, Naruto turned to Kakashi about to ask him for some ice cream on his hot and humid weather. Then he belatedly realized that Sasuke took off with something that belonged to him.

"Oi, Uchiha! I want my freaking fan back!"

* * *

"So, Kakashi, how did the meeting with your team go?"

"Sasuke jumped right on the bandwagon, while Sakura seemed hesitant on what to do." Kakashi replied. "But Naruto…"

Minato sighed, putting his elbow on his desk and a palm on his face. Ei's response to Torifu more than twelve years ago was dead-on: Kumo just had to go ahead and teach his son a little _too_ well for his liking.

"I know that the candidates are supposed to willingly come in their own volition, but I'm prepared to make a huge exception for Naruto. And if he doesn't come on his own accord, I'll just force him."

Kakashi then spoke up. "Sensei, I have this gut feeling that your son will extend the break you've given the team on his own."

* * *

Inside a dark, cold, and cramped place, Jiraiya chuckled as he thought of his latest scheme for his research. Alright, it wasn't Jiraiya's original idea, but that kid Naruto was practically a gold mine of inspirations for most of his infamous works. And the Gama Sennin couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this himself during his decades of perving around.

Breaking the silence, Jiraiya listened in anticipation as he heard a door creak. This was it! All he had to do now was lie down and wait for that cute little nurse to pull the body storage unit, and sweep her under his arms in sheer awe of his manliness. With his fingers twitching and a lecherous grin on his face, Jiraiya eagerly awaited his moment as he heard the nurse check the units closer and closer to him.

CLICK!

A bright light shone on the pervert's face as he was pulled from the dark storage unit inside out to the bright room outside. After a moment of disorientation from the sudden change in environment, Jiraiya's smile turned upside-down as he saw who actually pulled him out: A big, fat, male Akimichi.

"Umm, aren't you supposed to be a cute little nurse?"

The Akimichi frowned at his comments before pounding his fist onto the shocked face of the Ero-sennin, causing the support of the sliding unit to buckle and sending Jiraiya to slam down on the floor hard.

* * *

A ninja all clad in black was hopping from roof to roof, doing a zig-zag pattern as he made his way to the village wall at thirty minutes past midnight. Everything this ninja was wearing was black: Black hoods, black mask, black kimono, black pants, black sneakers…even black sunglasses in this darkness. This ninja seemed to be a minimalist, bringing no supply pouches with him—not even weapons. And it seemed that his goal was to leave the village as quickly as he could.

As he neared the village walls, the ninja looked to the left and to the right, cautious to anything that may alarm anyone. As per his earlier scouting expeditions, there were no guards present at this section of the wall at this precise time. This village's security was so predictable, he could set his watch with it! Having only about sixty seconds left in his short window of opportunity, the ninja leapt from the roof on which he was standing onto the village walls.

Suddenly, five banks of floodlights illuminated the wall that the black ninja was on, temporarily blinding him even with the sunglasses as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden change in brightness. Once he got his bearings straight, the black ninja saw that he was surrounded by about two dozen of the best chunin, ANBU, and jounin that the village had to offer.

It seemed that he was expected.

"Namikaze Naruto, where do you think you're going this late at night?" The one whom he recognized as Tenzo addressed him.

With his cover blown, Naruto took the hood and the mask off his classic ninja outfit, revealing a sheepish grin on his face.

"Ah, Tenzo-san, I'm just thinking of taking a nice, long stroll outside the village walls in beautiful night. Care to join me?"

Naruto then saw a bright yellow flash out of the corner of his eye, slowly turning around to face the person whom he was hoping to avoid for a while.

"Son, I take it that this long stroll of yours outside the village would take full month to complete." Minato commented.

"Well, it you put it that way…"

"Let's go home."

As the Hokage grabbed a hold of his hesitant son's arm and disappeared in another yellow flash, the guards could only scratch their heads, wondering why the Hokage would rank this little silly episode a full-fledged B-ranked mission and send all of them here.

Oh well, they can't complain about the pay for such an easy mission.

* * *

**PS** - Someone commented that I tend to revert to the present tense once in a while. That's my theatrical writing creeping in, and it does tend to escape my scrutiny even after letting the chapter sit unread for a week. Thanks for the heads-up, though.

In other news, in addition to employment prospects, the city's beloved hockey team just made it to the third round of the playoffs. So expect me to be really distracted.


	15. Konoha Chunin Exams

Hello everyone! I just noticed I have around a thousand readers following this story and three hundred different subscribers. Well, by last count, 1,141 _unique_ visitors read the last chapter, but some of those ought to be duplicates. So to everyone, thank you for reading!

And now for the fifteenth chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

XV: Konoha Chunin Exams

The Chunin Exams: The semi-annual event that many genin aspiring for promotion were looking forward to. Multitudes of genin from various hidden villages all over the Elemental Countries (with the notable exception of one) would gather at the village hosting the event to take a crack at becoming chunin—a ninja's ticket to greater pay, missions, and prestige. Many dreams will come true during this event; much more will be dashed…some permanently.

The location of the Exams rotated among the Major Shinobi Villages every two years: Konoha, then Kiri, then Suna, then Iwa (though aberrations to this order did occur once in a while). During times of peace, the exams were technically open to any village wishing to participate, as per the agreement of the Five Kages to end the First Shinobi War. But ever since the end of the Third Shinobi War, Iwa never bothered sending participants to the Konoha Chunin Exams, and _vice versa_. On the other hand, Kiri-nin often complained that Suna was too dry, while the Suna-nin said that Kiri was too damp for their tastes. Even if the Exams were meant to replace war as a show of bravado to potential clients, petty politics often interfered with this lofty ideal.

This time, it was Konoha's turn to host. Due to its central location, this particular event tend to attract the most amount of participants from various minor hidden villages such as Kusa, Ame, Kawa, Taki, and many others. Yet the majority of participants were (to no surprise) from the host village, Konoha, and their ally, Suna. But little did anyone know that this event would mark a major shift in the balance of power and prestige among the ninja villages.

* * *

Clutching her registration forms in her arms, Sakura was pacing back and forth outside Room 301 in Konoha Academy while Sasuke leaned against the wall beside the door. Though Sasuke seemed relaxed and confident, Sakura was quite nervous about the whole thing. She still had that lingering thought from their previous mission that she was not cut out to even be a genin, leaving her to wonder why she was here. Kakashi-sensei told them that they needed to enter as a team of three, and she did not want to disappoint and hold Sasuke-kun back by not showing up for the exams.

Well, she didn't have to worry about being a disappointment to Sasuke-kun, though. It was five minutes before nine, and the third member of their team had yet to show up. Maybe this was all for the better: Naruto didn't want to be here for some odd reason, Sasuke-kun will have more time to train for a future exam, and she could take this chance to either improve herself, or barring that, retire from being a ninja and live the life of a civilian in Konoha.

"S-Sasuke-kun, do you think Naruto-kun will show up?"

Sasuke merely growled back, his discontent of Naruto's attitude towards the exam showing on his face. With the Uchiha tapping his foot, the two genin continued to wait and watched as yet another team, this time from Kusa, checked in to register for the exams. Still no sign of the blond. Sure, being the Hokage's son may have had its perks, but this insolent behaviour could only get them so far. They may have gotten lucky to become genin because of Naruto, and that same person would be the reason they're stuck at that rank if he didn't show up in the next three minutes.

Suddenly, their wait was finally over with the faint sounds of a young boy screaming his lungs out from far away:

"LET ME GO, KAKASHI-NII-CHAN! THIS IS VERY DEMEANING TO A NINJA'S PRIDE, YOU KNOW?"

After a brief pause, presumably Kakashi-sensei talking back to Naruto, they heard the screams of the Hokage's son get louder as the two got closer to Room 301.

"IT IS BENEATH MY DIGNITY TO PERFORM IN SUCH A CHARADE OF AN EVENT‼ I AM A NINJA, NOT AN ENTERTAINER‼"

"Now, now, Naruto-kun, all that propaganda you've been fed aren't completely true. Besides, winning the Chunin Exams is considered a prestigious honour in the eyes of the Shinobi World…well, outside of Kumo."

Sasuke and Sakura gave the two bickering shinobi an unimpressed look as they appeared on the far end of the hall. In a reversal of their usual routine, Kakashi was dragging a resisting Naruto (back in his usual traditional clothing) with his left arm as he laboured his way to the registration desk with a crutch still under his right arm. As Kakashi dropped Naruto off and handed him over to his teammates, the two chunin in charge of registration poked fun at the team.

"So, Kakashi, you finally decided to show up on time, eh?" A chunin snarked.

"Just making sure that everything's all right with the team," Kakashi responded, as he turned Naruto's papers over to the desk.

"I'd rather do Academy Missions for the rest of my life than enter the Chunin Exams, though," Naruto pouted.

"And you know well that given your 'mandate', that's just not possible," Kakashi rebuted. "Besides, you may consider this a mission to escort Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan safely for the next five days."

The eyes of the two Academy graduates twitched upon hearing these uninspiring and insulting words from their sensei. And once Kakashi produced a scroll to prove that he actually commissioned this and wasn't bluffing, the fires of fury raged within both Sakura and Sasuke.

"Gimme that!" Naruto yelled as he snatched the scroll away from Kakashi. Naruto then mumbled lowly under his breath as he read its contents. "Escort and protect the chunin-candidates Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura for the first two rounds of the Chunin Exams….

"What the heck! Do you really think I'd believe that there's actually a mission to protect Uchina and Haruno during the exams? And why is this mission even classed B-ranked? I say that this is fake!"

"B-ranked?" Kakashi's brow perked up upon hearing that from Naruto, swearing that this 'mission' was supposed to be only D-ranked. Lo and behold, as Kakashi browsed through the scroll's contents, the mission's original D-rank designation was hastily changed into B-rank by the Hokage himself. Either this was a pathetic attempt by Minato-sensei to cajole Naruto into joining the exams, or something else was going on that he didn't know about.

"Who cares about missions," Sasuke growled, unable to believe the whole farce happening in front of him. "Are you going to let your pride prevent you from taking part of the exams."

"There are plenty of unknowns here, Uchiha. Retreat and prudence are the best course of action in such a situation."

"So you're telling me you're afraid of a bunch of genin?" Sasuke goaded.

Naruto glared back and gave Sasuke a nasty stare. It seemed that Sasuke managed to push just the right button to get Naruto to join them at the very least.

"I'm gonna show all those genin in there that Namikaze Naruto is the best genin in all of the Elemental Countries!"

"Umm, Naruto-kun," Sakura chirped in, "aren't we supposed to be aiming for promotion?"

"Who cares about that? Let's kick some ass! Kakashi-nii-chan, give me my sword!"

"It's back in your room, Naruto." Kakashi sighed. "Unfortunately, you don't have enough time to go and fetch it. Don't worry though, with your abilities, I doubt you'd need it right now."

Grumbling in frustration being left unarmed for the exams, Naruto entered the room determined to prove Uchiha wrong. This episode finally being done with, Sasuke and Sakura turned their registration papers in, and hurried to join Naruto with the exams starting soon.

Kakashi, with a frown showing underneath his mask, re-read the scroll describing was supposed to be a fake mission for Naruto. He sure hoped that this was just a bad practical joke from his sensei.

* * *

Naruto was not liking this one bit. Yeah, at first he was excited to see Morino-san and his team on the podium officiating the first round, thinking that this was some kind of an endurance test to see who would and would not break under the Torture and Interrogation Department's various techniques. But no: This was a freaking written test! The last time he had taken a written test was more three years ago during his penultimate year in Kumo Academy to test the class on Linear Algebra. And he could recall how poorly he did on the only question of that test trying to derive the matrix expressing the intersection between two _n_-spaces.

To make matters worse, he was seated beside some redhead from Kusa stealing glances at him from time to time. Was she trying to cheat off him? Well, good luck with that, Glasses Girl, for Namikaze Naruto's paper was still immaculate, blank and untouched! It's not as if he couldn't answer any of the questions…he hasn't even read a single word yet, still grumbling about the way these chunin-candidates were being evaluated. If it were this easy to be chunin, then there would be no such thing as genin should this be done back in Kumo!

Breathing out a deep sigh of frustration, Naruto decided to get this thing over with and finally start the test. After writing his name on the paper, he mumbled under his breath as he read the first question:

"A shinobi 195cm tall is standing 1.27m away from you. You are kneeling down behind the shinobi, with your shoulder 120cm from the ground. If a wind of 25km/h is blowing to your left, at what angle and speed should you throw your kunai to hit the shinobi at the neck and dispatch the shinobi?"

Naruto tapped his pencil on the table, thinking of a way to tackle this ballistics problem. What was the gravitational constant? And how far away was 1.27 metres again? Finally thinking of a solution in his head, Naruto put his pencil on the test paper as he wrote his answer:

"Stab the ninja at the back of the neck. You're close enough to do it, and it's a more guaranteed hit than throwing a kunai."

Feeling satisfied with his response, Naruto then looked at the second question: A coded message. Well, there's nothing that the wonders of Linear Algebra couldn't do! He may have hated the theoretical aspects of the subject with a passion, but its practical uses were quite interesting and very useful. Once decoded, Naruto frowned at what the message actually said.

"TSUCHIKAGE-AND-KITSUCHI-FLYING-TO-KONOHA—EVACUATE"

They freaking used _actual_ messages from the Third Shinobi War and put it in a test question! Well, Naruto guessed it wasn't that big of a deal since it was all in the past – a good history lesson for all. It would worry him though if this were some message about Madara. No, no, no, no—what was he thinking? Everyone should know about Madara! Just great, Naruto thought that he was now being contaminated by Konoha's culture of secrecy!

Naruto then proceeded to Questions 3 through 9, and though it wasn't quite a breeze, he felt that he answered them to his satisfaction. And it seemed that the tenth question would be revealed fifteen minutes before the test ended. Oh well, with about five minutes to spare, Naruto looked around to see how the others were faring.

To his utter surprise and disbelief, _everyone_ in the room was cheating. The Yamanaka girl used the Shintenshin on Haruno, there was a puppet writing on the desk to his left, and even Uchiha was cheating off someone who was cheating glancing quickly at the mirrors above. What the hell were those invigilators doing, slacking off like that! Sure, they've already called a lot of people out and disqualified them, but if they were this incompetent invigilating a test, then Naruto could only imagine in dismay the state Konoha's security was in.

Naruto frowned as he looked at one of the invigilators, who was writing the test instead of supervising it. And it seemed that he was letting a few people take a look at his answers instead of catching them cheating. Incompetence was one thing, but this was downright corruption! And the little Namikaze thought that Konoha prided itself for its integrity!

"Alright, it's time for the tenth question."

The test-takers looked up at the Head Invigilator, Morino Ibiki, and awaited his instructions. Though some looked satisfied at the results of 'their labour', others were quite nervous, obviously unable to answer most of the questions. That Kusa girl beside Naruto was one of those nervous ones.

"Now, there are added rules for this particular question." Ibiki spoke in a low, serious tone. "First of all, you must decide if you wish to take this question or not."

"What will happen if we choose not to?" A Suna chick asked.

"Then you and your team fail."

"What kind of a cheesy rule is that?" A twenty-year old genin asked. "Then we'll all just take the question."

"And here's where the second rule comes in," Ibiki continued. "If you choose to answer the question…and answer it incorrectly, then you along with your two teammates shall be barred from taking the Chunin Selection Exams ever again!"

And there was uproar and discontent from various candidates, protesting that the rule was unfair. Some cited that they can't control the Chunin Exams in villages outside Konoha, only to be rebuked by Morino about signing a waiver on their registration forms. Others despaired that they have wasted all this time and effort only to be turned away right before the first test ended. The redhead from Kusa beside Naruto stood up and ran away crying, apparently choosing to quit rather than lose her shot at being a chunin forever.

However, Naruto was grinning from ear to ear upon hearing Morino-san's second rule.

"Morino-san," Naruto asked, "did you say we can't ever take the Chunin Exams…forever?"

"That is indeed correct."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and growled upon hearing Naruto's query to the invigilator. He knew what that arrogant little brat was trying to do: Naruto would deliberately answer the question incorrectly so that they wouldn't have to take the Chunin Exams ever again!

"Oh no, you won't, Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed as he stood up and faced Naruto on the other side of the room. "You will not sabotage my chance at becoming a chunin!"

"And I say we go ahead and go down fighting!"

"Didn't you just say before we entered that you didn't like venturing into the unknown?"

"But there are no actual dangers, Uchiha. And there certainly won't be after I answer the final question." Naruto ended with a grin.

"That's it! We are taking a tactical retreat from your pride! Morino-san, on behalf of my team, I qu-"

"UCHIHA, NAMIKAZE, SHUT UP‼" Ibiki angrily yelled. "As punishment, you're team have forfeited your rights to the first rule, and you _will_ stay here for the question!"

Sasuke and Sakura could only show a shocked and betrayed look on their faces, while Naruto stuck his tongue out to his teammates in apparent victory. Meanwhile, upon hearing of Team Kakashi's punishment for bickering around, more people raised their hands and expressed their desire to quit rather face what might be a dead-end in their careers as ninja. If Namikaze-san, presumably the Hokage's relative, could be sanctioned like that, then surely they would have no hope in advancing through the ranks should they answer this question wrong. In the end, only fifty-four people remained in the room, nervous about what will happen as they awaited their fate.

Ibiki spoke. "To those of you who still remain in this room…congratulations on passing the First Test of the Chunin Selection Exams!"

Needless to say, everyone was surprised at this latest twist. Many exhaled in a sigh of relief, Sakura was glad that Naruto-kun wasn't given a chance to do what she thought he was going to do, and Sasuke gave the Hokage's son a smug look at _his_ victory.

"What the hell do you mean we already passed, Morino-san?" Naruto protested. "We never even got to answer the tenth question!"

"_You_ never got to answer the question," the invigilator replied. "The rest of them already did."

"You mean the decision to whether stay here or not was the tenth question?" The Suna chick asked.

"Then what the heck was the test for?" Naruto exclaimed as he cut the Kazekage's daughter off. "The only question that actually counted was the unwritten one!"

"The test was not to test your knowledge, but to test your ability to gather information undetected," Morino explained.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Naruto yelled. "We were supposed to cheat? Was that why your team was doing a shoddy job at supervising? I don't buy it; the questions weren't even that hard!"

"If the questions weren't hard, then everyone else besides you and your female teammate would not have been cheating in the first place."

"And you made us stay for the tenth question! Otousan you up to this, am I right, Morino-san?" Naruto accused. "I'm guessing he wants to show me off to all that daimyo and gamblers, and he ordered you to pass me, didn't he?"

"Naruto, aside from asking me to officiate this test, the Hokage didn't give any orders as such."

As everyone else gasped upon learning that the Hokage had a son, Naruto continued to accuse Morino of using such underhanded tactics. And as the rant went on, what Naruto was saying began to register among the remaining candidates. Soon, many in the room (besides Sasuke and Sakura, who only groaned at the whole thing) were beginning to side with Naruto and began jeering at Ibiki and his team, accusing them of nepotism. A riot was about to break out when…

CRASH!

Everyone in the room paused as they shielded themselves from flying glass from the broken windows. Once the dust settled, the chunin-candidates found out that the front of the room was now draped in a black banner with white slogan, which the candidates couldn't read because of the scantly-clad woman in a trench coat standing in front of it.

"Alright everyone! I'm the Supervisor of the Second Exam – Mitarashi Anko! Now come follow me!"

Everyone deadpanned at the loud and boisterous attitude of the second examiner, kinda like a certain short, blond-haired boy inside the room. While most people were wondering what this second test had in store for them, Naruto stroked his chin, feeling that the name was somewhat familiar.

"Mitarashi Anko?" Naruto wondered out loud. "Wait a minute, are you the person with a mole on the right side of her left breast?"

Everyone stared at Naruto for saying such a daring thing, before turning to a flustered yet seething woman. Anko immediately made a beeline towards Naruto and grabbed him by the collar of his neck, knocking any chairs and unfortunate people in her way aside.

"How the hell did you know that?" She growled lowly.

"Umm…people from Kumo told me?" Naruto whimpered as he tried to excuse himself. "Besides, everyone can see it right now."

Needless to say, everyone's eyes shifted towards Anko's chest. There was that mole in full view of anyone who may come upon it. Anko, humiliated by this little brat, threw the Hokage's son down on the floor and quickly buttoned her trench coat up (to the dismay of the male candidates in the room). This was not the way she planned on intimidating these genin!

* * *

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, what do you think we should do now?"

Team Kakashi was currently sprinting eastbound in Training Area 44, having just entered as soon as the gate they were assigned to opened a minute ago. Mitarashi-san said that they had one hundred and twenty hours to finish this test, with the goal of making it to the central tower with both the Scroll of Heaven and Scroll of Earth in their possession. Each team was given random scroll before they entered, and they had to take the other scroll from some other team to complete the task. This meant that at least half of the remaining teams would be disqualified, and the teams would have to fight, or at least outmanoeuvre each other to take the other scroll.

Sakura was wondering why they were sprinting at the onset. Sure, they didn't want any other team knowing of their plans, but they had five full days to complete the task. This was not a race for crying out loud!

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, do we even have a plan?"

The three of them suddenly stopped, realizing that Sakura had a point. They didn't want to be running around like a headless chicken, after all!

Sasuke spoke, "I guess we should take this time and follow a team around, getting to know their strengths and weaknesses and pouncing on them when they're most vulnerable."

"But Sasuke-kun, how are we going to find them?" Sakura asked. "This place is huge!"

"I say we head straight for the tower as fast as we can!" Naruto proclaimed.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, trying to figure out the logic behind his plan. "I guess that makes sense. The teams who would be entering the tower will have already gotten possession of both scrolls. If we fight them there, they would be tired while we would be well-rested, plus there's the guarantee that the scroll we're looking for would be with them."

"What the heck are you talking about, Uchiha? I already have both scrolls with me right here!"

Naruto reached in his sleeve and _voilà__:_ Both the Scroll of Heaven and the Scroll of Earth were indeed in his possession. Sasuke's and Sakura's eyes both widened at the sight of the scrolls. Weren't they only supposed to have one scroll in the beginning!

"Naruto-kun," Sakura exclaimed, "how did you get two scrolls with you? I thought the supervisors were only supposed to give each team one? You didn't get both just because you're Hokage-sama's son, didn't you?"

"Meh, I swiped this one off some unsuspecting genin on my way to the gate." Naruto explained as he grinned, casually tossing the Scroll of Earth around in his hand.

"You stole it before the test began? B-But…isn't that cheating!"

"Now, now, Haruno, didn't you learn anything during the First Test of the Exams?"

"But we were supposed to cheat on _that_ test!" Sakura said in panic. "This is different! If anyone were to find out this time, then we would really be kicked out of the exam!"

"And how is this any different from the First Test?"

"B-But…" Sakura muttered, still flabbergasted and incredulous about the stunt that Naruto just pulled.

"Don't worry, Haruno," Naruto said trying to reassure the girl, "no one else will ever find out about this. Well, the guys I stole this scroll off with will, but they won't know it's us, hehehe…wait a minute, I think I have something else."

Sakura frowned, here discontent at this showing on her face. Sasuke, on the other hand, merely nodded and accepting Naruto's explanation as it was. Naruto meanwhile reached for one more thing in his sleeve—it was that yellow book he was always carrying around ever since they met him.

Naruto opened his book near the beginning, presumably browsing through the table of contents. He then flipped it to the middle of the book and showed its contents to both Sasuke and Sakura. To their surprise, it was a detailed map of the training area they were in.

"I think that we're somewhere over here," Naruto started as he pointed at an area just inside the western perimeter. "Now we could just travel at a straight line, but I think it would be easier for the two of you if we followed this valley over here, then go along this river, before finally turning here and head for the tower."

"Naruto-kun, are you sure about this?" Sakura asked with concern once more.

Sasuke then replied on behalf of Naruto, "Sakura, just trust Naruto this time. We already have both scrolls and he happens to have a map to top that off. Why make this any harder for us?"

Sakura sighed, not really approving of their tactics. Was this really the way of the ninja, playing dirty and cheating whenever they could get away with it? What happened to fair play and the Will of Fire that they've been taught at Academy? Well, Naruto never attended (Konoha) Academy—he was presumably taught differently in Kumo. As Naruto packed the scrolls and his book back in his garment, Sakura reluctantly decided to just go along with his plan, especially if Sasuke-kun was okay with it. With a blink of an eye, they disappeared, heading for the tower as quickly as possible.

* * *

"Shikamaru, I swear I have the scroll with me!"

Ino knelt on the ground as she frantically rummaged through her pack trying to find the Scroll of Earth that the officials have given her. Kunai, shuriken, lipstick, make-up, rations, and many other things were already littered about the ground, but no Scroll of Earth.

"Believe me, Shikamaru. I know I put that scroll in my pack as soon as I received it!"

Shikamaru and Choji sighed as they stood watching their self-proclaimed team leader trying to look for that scroll that she likely have already lost. Shikamaru could only rub his forehead, thinking that the test just got a whole lot harder for them.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Miss First Place." Shikamaru said. "Let's just move on and find two teams that-"

"How the hell did it disappear?" Ino wailed as she turned her now-empty pack upside-down trying to shake the last of its contents out. She just couldn't believe the bad luck she was having right now.

* * *

"Hello! Anybody here?"

Echoes rang around the chamber as Team Kakashi looked around the foyer of the Central Tower in Training Area 44. It seemed that they were the first team to reach the tower – not surprising considering all they had to do was get here as fast as they could. For Sakura, though, the fact that the tower was empty was a bit disconcerting.

"Naruto-kun, I think that we got here too quickly," Sakura said with worry in her voice. "None of the officials are even here yet!"

"And that goes to show you how shabby this event has been handled," Naruto replied. "Seriously, they should have been prepared for this and been here already."

"Naruto-kun, they gave us five full days to complete this test!" Sakura yelled. "We're already here in under an hour! Don't you think that'll raise their suspicions?"

"Then I could simply say I went Kyubi on those genin. And with the way everyone in Konoha grovel at the ground Uchiha walks on, I bet they'll buy anything I say at this point."

As Sakura and Naruto debated whether they should head back outside to keep up with the façade or not, Sasuke looked at one of the calligraphic writings on the wall, trying to figure out if the officials left any directions to check out of the test. The Uchiha frowned as soon as he saw the author of this particular work – the Sandaime Hokage.

"If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and gain strength. If you open both Heaven and Earth scrolls, dangerous paths turn into safe ones. This is the secret of…something…something. It shall lead the way –Sandaime."

"You said something, Uchiha?"

Sasuke pointed at the Sandaime Hokage's writing, prompting Namikaze and Haruno to come forward to read it. It seemed that aside from being a mere poetic work, they were being instructed to do something.

"Umm, I think that it's telling us to open the scrolls." Sakura suggested.

"But didn't that Anko chick tell us not to open the scrolls?" Naruto asked as he recalled the instructions.

Sasuke added, "She said not to open them while we're out in the field. We're already inside the tower, and with that thing on the wall, I say we open the scrolls."

"I guess we could always blame Sarutobi-sama for leaving obsolete instructions if we were to be disqualified because of this." Naruto commented, not really caring if they figured the riddle out correctly or not. "Well, here goes…"

Naruto took both scrolls from his sleeve, and unfurled them. His eyes quickly widened as he saw the first part of the scroll: A seal detailing a genjutsu that would knock any normal person out for six days. He immediately punted both scrolls to the far end of the foyer. Naruto may not be affected by genjutsu at all, but Haruno and Uchiha would surely fall for it.

"Naruto-kun, what's the matter?" Sakura asked, alarmed that Naruto just kicked the scrolls away like that.

To Naruto's surprise, the genjutsu seal quickly dispelled itself, apparently cancelled out by a few seal tags that he saw were stuck to the wall. Naruto then instinctively reached his arm back to his non-existent sword as he saw what was next in those two scrolls: A summoning jutsu.

The three watched as the scrolls puffed up a cloud of smoke, obscuring them from the view of the genin. As the smoke dissipated, the figure of a white-haired man with shoulder-length hair wearing a Konoha forehead protector was revealed before Team Kakashi.

"What the? Where am I?" The man said as the smoke cleared, apparently disoriented by the summoning technique.

"M-Mizuki-sensei?" Sakura asked, wondering why he was summoned here for this part of the exam. "What's going on?"

"Sensei?" Naruto asked Sakura, before having a lightbulb turn on his head in (mis)understanding. "Ah, you're a chunin right? So you must be some kind of final boss for this test."

"Final boss?" Mizuki asked, still not having a clue to what was going on around him.

"I see where you're getting at, Naruto," Sasuke said. "What better way to test someone to be a chunin than to pit us against an actual chunin?"

"Wait, is this the exams?"

"Team Kakashi, let's get ready to kick some chunin ass!"

Before Mizuki could do anything, he felt a sharp pain in his thigh courtesy of a shuriken from Sakura. Yelling out in pain and unable to say anything he wanted to tell them, he felt a fist slamming itself under his jaw, snapping his head back and sending him flying up towards the heavens.

"Tiger Uppercut!"

Poor Mizuki could only watch now as he saw Sasuke position himself up in the air to give him a very hard kick down, forcing the chunin Academy Instructor back to earth. Having suffered a serious concussion from two blows to the head, the only thing Mizuki could do now was faint and pass out.

After thirty more seconds of beating and tenderizing, Team Kakashi looked around, expecting someone to finally show up behind a door and congratulate them. Sadly, nothing of that sort happened.

"Umm, Naruto-kun," Sakura said, "I think we overdid it."

"Haruno, we have this saying in Kumo: 'When in doubt – overkill!'"

The team then sat around the beaten body of Mizuki, happy that they had defeated a chunin in a fight yet somewhat regretting that no official saw this. Out of boredom, Naruto yawned as he wondered out loud if they had indeed already finished the test.

"Now what?"

* * *

**PS** - Yeah, yeah, they breezed through the first two tests just like that. So what? Anyways, once again, thank you for reading.


	16. Chunin Candidates

Hey guys! Sorry for not releasing new chapters for the past few weeks. A trifecta of factors caused this delay: employment, _Starcraft II_ (using money from said employment), and the Stanley Cup Finals! Anyhoo, things may ease up for me come August when my contract ends, but until then, expect more delays like this.

Here's the sixteenth chapter: Enjoy! And Go, Canucks, Go!

* * *

**A Kumo Nin's Guide to Konoha**

XVI: Chunin-Candidates

Orochimaru slammed his fist against the tree trunk, causing the one-hundred year-old cedar to crash down on the forest floor. Things were not going well for him lately. A few months ago, his spies in Konoha suddenly disappeared without warning. The disappearance of one spy could simply be dismissed as an isolated incident, but something must have tipped the village off for all of them to vanish at the same time. Moreover, for the past four days, he had been scouring the forest searching for Uchiha Sasuke, whom he had been planning on making his next host. Though he swore he saw the boy and his team pass the first test, he could not find any signs of the Uchiha during this test!

That Namikaze shall pay for usurping the destiny Sarutobi-sensei had been grooming him for ever since he was young. The position of Yondaime Hokage was supposed to be his, but that Minato snatched that away from him. And now, that Yellow Flash had been dismantling his plan to destroy Konoha piece by piece, thinking he could do better.

However, as consolation, he did manage to get his hands on that Kusa girl with that special chakra after the first exams. He was sure that he could get his research going into full gear with her in his grasp. And that fool Minato threw away the reason he became Hokage when he signed that peace treaty with Kumo after the Kyubi attack more than twelve years ago. Orochimaru smiled as he thought of how that decision of Namikaze Minato would come back to haunt him once his plans were set into motion.

* * *

"Congratulations on passing the Second Test of the Chunin Exams!"

Inside a classroom in Konoha Academy, six chunin were reciting these words over and over again as the final twenty-four hours of the Second Test of the Chunin Exams were underway. A couple of those chunin, though, were quite irritated by the fact that they were stuck in the Academy for the past three days.

"Sheesh, Iruka, are you really planning on keeping all of us prisoner here for the next twenty-four hours?" Izumo complained.

"The majority of the successful examinees should be finishing the test any time now, especially during this final day," Iruka responded.

"But was it necessary to wake us up in the middle of the night and spend the next four days here in the Academy?"

"Look, we've been informed of what happened to Mizuki," Iruka said. "And Kotetsu almost suffered the same fate a few moments later. Good thing he kept his wits to inform the two teams already there of the situation and summon help for Mizuki."

"That's really insane, though," Izumo commented. "Fifty-three minutes, then ninety-seven minutes…those pretty much smashed the previous record of four hours. Being a Kage's child must be really something."

"That's why we can't be caught unprepared this time." Iruka stated. "Now let's continue."

And so, with the Mizuki Incident still hanging in their heads, the six chunin in the room continued to recite that same phrase over and over again.

* * *

Naruto, seated in a table with Sasuke and Sakura in the Tower Kitchen, was eating his _shogayaki_ lunch as they awaited the end of the Second Test. Other than the arrival of the Kazekage's children, their stay in the tower was pretty much uneventful no thanks to Kotetsu-san. Things got a bit more exciting over the past day with three more teams checking out of the test, but those did not even compare to the asskicking Team Kakashi have inflicted on that (poor) chunin.

The Hokage's son looked around, the place buzzing with activity contrasting the desolate state the place was in when Team Kakashi first arrived. Various chunin (presumably the examiners) and Konoha jounin were talking to each other, while the non-Konoha jounin were just sitting alone in their tables eating and waiting news from their respective students. The other chunin-candidates were probably in their assigned rooms, not allowed to interact with people from other teams until this test was over. The experience these past few days was sort of a weird combination of the luxury of being a renowned daimyo and being subject to the strict regimen of a high-security prison: They were technically allowed to move about as they wished, but they had to eat, go to the bathroom, and take their walks in shifts while escorted by the examiners to avoid running into each other.

Oh well, as long as the place had air-conditioning and great food, being stuck in the tower beats trying to deal with the stifling heat outside any time.

Eventually, the kitchen door swung open as a chunin who didn't seem to be one of the examiners stepped in – Umino-san if Naruto could recall correctly.

"Asuma-san," Iruka called, "your team has just arrived and passed the test…and just in the nick of time might I add."

"Thanks, Iruka." The aforementioned Asuma said as he stood and started to make his way out to greet his students.

Before Asuma could make it to the kitchen entrance, the door suddenly burst open to reveal the boisterous Chief Examiner of the Second Test of the Chunin Exams.

"Alright everyone!" Anko yelled. "The second test is now officially over! To those who are helping me, it's time to round all the failures up and escort them out of the training area. To the jounin instructors of those who failed, you may assist my team on this task…with proper escorts, of course. Now get going!"

As those called out began leaving the kitchen, Anko turned to the table where Team Kakashi was seating and addressed them.

"And you three, Sandaime-sama wants to meet with all those who passed at the foyer."

Sasuke frowned as he heard that old man's title, still unhappy with the man despite the beating he lashed out on him during that library mission. Sakura could only look on with worry on her face, knowing well the reason why Sasuke's mind was in turmoil at this moment.

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan," Kakashi called them, "you better go and finish your lunch quickly. Sandaime-sama will be starting in a few minutes."

And so, the three hurriedly shoved the rest of their lunch in their mouths, somewhat glad that their five-day wait was finally over.

* * *

"My name is Yamashiro Aoba, and I will be the official on the floor for the final test."

"Wait a freaking minute," Ino yelled. "Aren't you that same Aoba who broke into my house and stole my clan's scrolls a few years back?"

The gazes of the candidates and jounin present shifted towards the man wearing sunglasses as the special jounin squirmed trying to think of a way of explaining away the Yamanaka's accusation. Alright, it was not so much an accusation, since the man already admitted to the deed a long time ago, but that didn't mean he enjoyed having that incident come back to haunt him.

"Hey look," a flustered Aoba responded, "it was just a silly dare during my younger days. I apologize if my actions back then still scare you to this day, Yamanaka-san."

"I am scared of nothing, you jerk!"

"Ahem!"

The bickering stopped as everyone turned to the source of the cough, the Sandaime Hokage, who wasn't amused by what was happening on the floor.

"Aoba, shall we continue?"

"Ah, right," Aoba said, somewhat glad for the Sandaime's intervention, before continuing. "As I said, I will be the official on the floor while Sandaime-sama will be the Chief Supervisor for the Final Test.

"Unfortunately, there are only spaces for a maximum of sixteen candidates for the final test. As there are six teams who passed the Second Test, a preliminary round will be held right now."

"So, you mean to tell us that this show the village will be putting on only has space for fifteen matches for the final test?" An indignant Naruto asked. "And we are having this preliminary round because Team Asuma managed to make it out at the very last minute?"

Sarutobi sighed, knowing well of Naruto's opinions (through Minato) on the Chunin Exams. "Naruto-kun, in addition to advancement of ninjas, this event is also meant to showcase the talents of the best of the best to potential clients. We have to keep things…interesting for them."

"Yeah, in other words, entertain them," Naruto muttered.

"Anyways," Aoba cut in, "for those of you who don't know, the final test will be a series of one-on-one matches following a tournament format. A winner will be declared if the opponent gets incapacitated, surrenders, receives outside help, or when Sandaime-sama or I stop the match. The combatants may use any methods they wish in order to win, though you should follow orders from me or Sandaime-sama should we say so. Any questions?"

"I think-"

"Except you, Naruto!"

Naruto pouted as the rest of the candidates looked at their teammates, trying to figure out who would be matched with whom. After a moment of silence, Aoba continued.

"Well then, let's proceed with the matches. Your opponents will be decided in random by a computer. Please head to the balcony while the persons whose names will appear on the screen stay here on the floor."

* * *

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura leaned on the railing as they watched a spandex-clad boy named Rock Lee give a ninja from Oto named Zaku the beating of his lifetime. They might as well use this time to scout out their potential opponents should they get past this preliminary round. So far, they could tell that Lee was a taijutsu specialist who happened to be very fast. The one-sided match finally ended as the Lee gave Zaku a kick in the head, causing the Oto-nin to pass out.

"Winner: Rock Lee."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the balcony, Sarutobi, in addition to watching the proceedings on the floor, was keeping a close eye on Sasuke. It seemed that the young Uchiha was giving him the dirty look every now and then. At first, the elder thought it was all in his imagination, with his savage beating being explained away by his successor as a quality-assurance mission. But he couldn't help but have that feeling that the boy…hated him.

Looking for a respite from his apparent paranoia, Sarutobi gave the giant screen a glance as it flashed the names of the next two combatants:

"Akimichi Choji _v_. Uchiha Sasuke"

The Third Hokage watched as the two clan heirs made their way to the floor. Sarutobi frowned as he observed that Sasuke had a very determined look on his face, as if he were on a personal mission.

* * *

"Sasuke, good luck and may the best person win."

"Akimichi, today, I will restore the honour that your clan took away from mine five years ago!"

Choji gave Sasuke a confused look, wondering in what way he had ever offended the Uchiha. As far as he knew, Sasuke had always beaten him in all aspects of the Academy curriculum: taijutsu, ninjutsu, academics, and so on. Was his former classmate mad because he threw the match away during a spar a long time ago?

"Sasuke, what do you mean restore the honour?" Choji asked.

"Aoba-san, can we begin the match?" Sasuke grumbled, unable to wait for his match against Akimichi to finally get started.

"Umm, sure, you may begin."

Sasuke took off as he drew a kunai from its holster in one fluid motion. Choji, surprised by the quick start, bent sideways at the very last second, causing the kunai Sasuke was holding to rip through his clothes and barely nicking his right arm. Choji couldn't believe what was going on: Sasuke was aiming for the kill! Was the Uchiha holding a grudge against him?

"S-Sasuke, can you take it easy on me? Our team just got here…and we're both Konoha-nin."

"Well, it's your team's fault for showing up at the last minute tired instead of resting here for a few days." Sasuke shot back.

Choji's eyes widened, realizing the mismatch that he was in. His team had to spend almost every minute of the past five days trying to locate the two scrolls, after the one they were given mysteriously disappeared, then ending up with two Scrolls of Heaven, and finally wrestling away a Scroll of Earth from an older team at the last hour. He, along with Shikamaru and Ino, were tired and fatigued, while Sasuke claimed that he and his team were well-rested after waiting in the tower for a few days.

Choji suddenly felt a punch on his face, causing him to stumble on the side as he tried to recover from the attack. Good thing that the Akimichis had that natural 'padding' around their bodies to protect them from the shock of the blows. He then readied himself as he prepared to receive a kick to the gut from Sasuke, causing him to stumble back as the blow finally connected.

The Akimichi then heard a crunching, ruffling noise of plastic foil from Sasuke. It seemed that his opponent managed to get a hold of a bag of potato chips he had been hiding in his pack as his 'emergency' ration.

"Hey Sasuke, that's mine! Give it back!"

"Come and get it," Sasuke goaded, "…fatso!"

Now, the Akimichis didn't mind people calling them weak and docile, for that belied their true strength to their enemies. They never minded people calling them gluttons either, for they were proud to proclaim their love of food to the world. But no one should ever, ever call them fat, especially in front of so many people!

"You…will…pay for calling me fat, Uchiha!" Choji raged.

"That's my line, you tub of lard." Sasuke answered back, seeing that his plan was working as expected.

"THAT'S IT! BAIKA NO JUTSU!" (Multi-Size Technique)

Choji then quickly grew to three to four times bigger his normal size, his enormous body now towering over Uchiha. Enraged and losing control over his emotions, Choji yelled as he called out his next move.

"NIKUDAN SENSHA!" (Human Bullet Tank)

Sasuke calmly watched as Choji turned himself into a giant ball, and started rolling towards him. Opening the bag of chips he had taken from his opponent, Sasuke grabbed a handful of chips and crushed them in his hand. As the gigantic ball of meat neared, Sasuke threw the bag of chips aside, leapt over Choji, and forming a few hand seals (causing crumbs to slowly fall onto the ball), executed his jutsu.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

A big fireball left Sasuke's mouth as it made its way towards Choji. However, once the fireball hit the aerosolized crumbs still floating on top of the meat ball, the flames intensified as the crumbs were consumed by the jutsu and gave off more heat. With burning crumbs all over him, Choji stopped in panic as he desperately tried to put out the flames around him.

But Sasuke was not done yet. Uchiha reached in his shirt and took out…a cheap, small fan (stolen from a certain someone to prove him wrong). He channeled some chakra into the fan, and hoping that this long shot would work, quickly waved the fan at Choji's direction.

The little flames that were burning through Choji's clothing quickly engulfed the entire floor of the foyer, causing the observers to instinctively shield their eyes to the sudden change in brightness. However, with only a couple of days to study this before the exams, the effect of this long-unused Uchiha technique was more flair than substance at this stage. It didn't really inflict any more physical damage on Choji and it actually put the fires out sooner than if they were left to burn alone.

The psychological impact of the technique, however, was quite devastating.

"I-I give up!" Choji cried out, as he collapsed on the floor.

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke"

Sasuke, with fan still in his hand, slowly walked towards the singed form of Choji, looking down on him with a small glint of satisfaction in his eyes. Choji, on the other hand, still couldn't understand why Sasuke would be angry at his clan.

"Why, Sasuke?" Choji asked. "You said you wanted honour restored. What did my clan ever do to you?"

"S-ranked secret."

Sasuke then turned to Sarutobi at the balcony and gave the elder a piercing glare.

* * *

Sarutobi's heart raced as he saw Sasuke stare at him. The boy knew! That beating he received in the library…that feeling of hatred directed at him, it wasn't his imagination after all. Itachi would go berserk on him should he learn that Sasuke now knew about what really happened that bloody night. But why would Minato tell the boy about it? Surely he wouldn't want to give Sasuke a reason to hate the village and have him actually rebel against Konoha.

As Sasuke made his way back to his team on the balcony, Sarutobi's eyes shifted towards his teammates, more specifically, Naruto. That damned intelligence report from Kumo he received from Minato was first given to Naruto. He knew that Minato had to tread carefully when dealing with a jinchuriki with full control of his bijuu, but couldn't his successor just invoke his authority over the boy as father and tell Naruto that sharing sensitive information just like that was not acceptable in Konoha?

The Third Hokage breathed deeply, trying to think of ways he could remedy the situation and control the damage already done by Naruto. He no longer held the power he once wielded, leaving him with little choice but to swallow a very bitter pill. He just hoped that his collaborators would at the very least see how critical the situation had become.

* * *

"Oi, Uchiha, I want my fan back!"

Sasuke's eyes twitched in annoyance upon hearing this ridiculous demand from Naruto. Alright, technically he _did_ steal the said item from his teammate, but it was not as if the fan were some rare, irreplaceable object that people would pay A-ranked missions to retrieve. It was a common, everyday object: Anyone could probably make three _uchiwa_ for a single ryo, for crying out loud!

"You won this freaking fan spinning a wheel of fortune in the _takoyaki_ stand, Naruto," said Sasuke. "Go get yourself another one!"

"Naruto-kun," Sakura chimed in, "you should be congratulating Sasuke-kun for winning his match. You shouldn't be complaining about borrowed items at this time. Besides, don't you always emphasize teamwork during practice?"

"Fine, fine, Haruno." Naruto said. "I'm just annoyed that he took the fan away from me during a hot day."

"Get over it, Naruto." Sasuke sighed. "Believe us; it's _not_ hot at this time of year."

Kakashi decided now was the time to step in before everyone else in the room (besides Team Asuma) could laugh at them for their bickering.

Kakashi spoke, "Sasuke-kun, I must say I'm impressed that you've developed an interesting jutsu in a short amount of time."

"It's an ancient Uchiha technique that fell into disuse by the time the clan settled in Konoha," Sasuke answered. "Judging from the effects of the jutsu, I still have a long ways to go from mastering the technique. And I'll prove to everyone that people who use fans aren't whimps!"

"Hey, you're the one who said so yourself, Uchiha." Naruto complained.

"Naruto, shut up."

The Hokage's son pouted as the leaned on the railing as the screen flashed a bunch of random names to see who would go next. Finally, the shuffling stopped as the screen settled on two names:

"Haruno Sakura _v._ Nara Shikamaru"

So, it was another Team Kakashi _v_. Team Asuma match. Naruto turned to look at his female teammate shuffling around and somewhat nervous about her upcoming bout. It seemed that she was still not confident with her abilities, which left Naruto wondering how Haruno would fare in this match.

"Sakura," Sasuke said in an (awkward) attempt to reassure his teammate, "I don't think you have to worry too much about dealing with the Dead Last of the Class."

"But your opponent is a Nara, though," Naruto rebutted. "I think that you should be careful around him."

Sakura looked on with worry on her face as she received these two contradictory pieces of advice from her teammates. It was nice that Sasuke-kun thought that this fight should be easy for her, but she was worried about the word of caution she heard from Naruto-kun. The Hokage's son may not have attended Academy with them, but somehow, he always seemed to be ahead intelligence-wise than the rest of her former classmates. She could only hope that this match would go well for her.

* * *

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, sizing up Sakura and trying to figure out what sort of tactics she would be up to. In a way, being paired against Sakura was a disadvantage to him. Had he gone against Ino, Sasuke, Shino, and the rest of the children of the Clans of Konoha, he would have had at least some knowledge and history of their reputations behind them, with which he could use to formulate a reasonable counter against them. He managed to hear about Team Suna from his brief chat with Kiba, his team managed to spy on Team Oto during the Second Exams, while he had the (dis)pleasure of working with Team Gai during one of their missions. But Sakura was anonymous, an average person who didn't stand out during Academy (aside from her big crush for Sasuke). He never really paid any particular attention to her during their days in the Academy, and with those crazy rumours going around concerning Team Kakashi, he didn't really know what to expect of her.

Shikamaru looked around to see what sorts of quirks he could use to turn to his advantage. Both of them were about the same distance from the walls, the floor official was to his left (and Sakura's right), the lights were evenly-spaced throughout the ceiling, and the floor was pretty much level. His eyes then shifted to Sakura, wearing that same red dress she had been wearing in Academy and her long, pink hair held back by her forehead protector. He also noted that she wore her kunai holster on her thigh while he wore his on his hip.

Sakura, meanwhile, had more in mind than the match that she was currently in. She failed the final test that would have made her genin, and it was only through the graces of the Hokage (and his son) that she was allowed to become a ninja to begin with. She fared horribly during her first real mission as a ninja, and she had that nagging feeling that the only reason why they passed the Second Test so easily was because of Naruto. She saw that most of the people who checked out of the test were a little worse for wear, and she knew that she was spared this hardship by riding on the coattails of Naruto and Sasuke-kun. She knew that this match, against the dead last of the class, would be the defining moment of her career. This would decide whether she deserved to be here or not.

The two looked at each other for another thirty seconds, neither budging nor giving any clues to their opening move. Sakura was fresh and well-rested, yet unsure of herself and her abilities. Shikamaru, while frayed and tired, had adrenaline and his clan training behind him despite being ranked last in his class.

Sakura made the first move, drawing a shuriken from her holster and throwing it towards Shikamaru, aiming for the torso. Shikamaru, alarmed yet not surprised at the move, quickly dodged the attack by bending back and planting both hands on the floor.

The girl promptly followed through by hurling another shuriken at the Nara, this time, unfortunately aimed at his groin due to the way they were positioned. Shikamaru, just catching a glimpse of this attack, immediately dropped and rolled in a last-ditch attempt to preserve his manhood. The shuriken whizzed over him and though it nicked a few strands of hair off his head, he largely escaped unscratched by this attempt.

Shikamaru then quickly got up on one knee, grabbed a shuriken from his own holster, and threw it at Sakura. However, Sakura was already moving laterally relative to him, causing the projectile to miss its target by a wide margin.

The boy was at a temporary disadvantage; it seemed that Sakura had opted to go long-range at the moment. The Nara was still tired from having just come in from the second test, and Sakura was hoping to win this by fighting her opponent to exhaustion. However, Shikamaru knew that Sakura (or any ninja for that matter) could only carry a limited number of weapons in her container. All he had to do now was weather this initial storm before he could make his move.

With the pink-haired girl moving to his left, Shikamaru waltzed around the middle of the floor as he dodged a third and fourth shuriken. As Sakura worked her way counter-clockwise, she threw her last two shuriken at Shikamaru at the same time, one aimed at his head, the other aimed half a metre from his chest. Shikamaru, seeing where the projectiles were heading, bent back yet again as he watched the two shuriken pass by him and hit the wall on the other side.

Certain that Sakura had ran out of shuriken and would not want to waste her kunai by throwing it, Shikamaru got back up and prepared to counter by grabbing one of his shuriken. His eyes widened, however, as he saw a seventh shuriken fly at him and hit him on the left arm.

"ARGH!"

Wincing in pain, Shikamaru berated himself for forgetting this little detail as he watched where Sakura was getting her 'extra' shuriken from: She managed to make her way on the other side of the floor and re-used the shuriken she threw at the beginning of the match. And it seemed that she was content on continuing this fast pace.

Shikamaru thought of the different options that he could pursue in his situation. He knew that there was no way that Sakura was coming anywhere near him. He could try and retrieve the weapons, but Sakura already had momentum behind her. Considering she was fresh and he was tired, the last thing he wanted to do now was play a cat-and-mouse game of trying to get to the weapons while dodging them at the same time. And there was no way he would throw any of his weapons at her right now: That would only give her more ammunition. And simply dodging wasn't a viable option either.

This left him with one option. Seeing the second incoming shuriken, Shikamaru quickly turned and took the hit on the same left arm, growling as he tried to stifle a scream from the incredible pain. Staying put in his spot, Shikamaru watched as Sakura grabbed the third and fourth shuriken on the floor and flung at him. Trying to minimize the damage he has already taken, Shikamaru turned back as he tried to get those sharp projectiles to hit him at the meaty part of his posterior. Shikamaru then closed his eyes as he braced himself from impact.

Thud. Thud.

To his surprise, the expected pain did not arrive. Was it the adrenaline rushing through his veins? Looking back to see what happened, Shikamaru again berated himself at forgetting yet another detail as he saw the two thrown shuriken sticking out of his pack he was wearing at his hips.

The Nara quickly unbelted his pack, intent on using it a miniature shield to literally absorb Sakura's attacks. Once Sakura threw her fifth and sixth shuriken, Shikamaru moved accordingly to let them harmlessly hit his pack. Once Sakura got to the shuriken Shikamaru originally threw, she finally realized what Shikamaru was up to.

"You finally ran out of ammunition, Sakura." Shikamaru said, trying to buy time to recover and think of his next move. "So, what are you up to now?"

Huffing and puffing from running around, Sakura looked at her opponent as she tried to figure out what to do next. She could no longer continue her long-range tactics with her arsenal down to a shuriken and a kunai. Whether she liked it or not, she would have to go close-range to win the match. She wanted to avoid hand-to-hand combat against a potentially stronger boy, but now that the said boy was tired and injured, she hoped that he was weak enough for her to overpower him.

After finally deciding on a plan, she slowly put her last shuriken back in her holster. She then produced a series of three hand seals—ram, snake, tiger.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A puff of smoke immediately appeared, briefly obstructing Sakura from everyone's view. As the smoke cleared, the audience and Shikamaru were presented with three spitting images of Sakura.

Shikamaru frowned upon seeing the clones; he didn't know which one was the real Sakura. Sure, he could throw the shuriken he had to determine the real person, but he didn't want to give her any more ammunition. There was one other way to definitely find out, but this would not be pleasant on Shikamaru's part.

With a determined look on her face, Sakura grabbed her remaining shuriken and hurled it at Shikamaru at full strength, with her clones following suit. Shikamaru saw that the shuriken and its cloned images were aimed at different parts of his body, leaving dodging out of the equation and forcing him to take a one-in-three chance of blocking the correct shuriken with his pack. One was heading for his head, one for his right shoulder, and one to his left thigh. Deciding to play it safe, he used the pack to shield his head, opting for injury than certain death.

A pang of pain radiated from Shikamaru's thigh, the shuriken deeply embedding itself in the muscles. Shikamaru put his pack aside and saw three Sakuras charging at him, though strangely enough, her kunai wasn't drawn. Perhaps Sakura was not as determined as he initially thought.

Sakura threw a punch at Shikamaru's head, her tightly clenched fist connecting with the recipient's upper cheek. Shikamaru turned and stumbled back, grimacing in pain and a bit dizzy having felt the full force of the blow.

Taking a page out of Naruto's tactics, Sakura then proceeded to try and kick a slightly disoriented Shikamaru—well, tried to. For some odd reason, she couldn't move at all! No matter how much she tried to will herself to move, her body simply won't obey!

"Kagemane no Jutsu – success!"

Trying to ignore the intense pain and slight vertigo he was currently in, Shikamaru gingerly got back up to see Sakura face-to-face. He took a single step towards the girl, causing Sakura to mimic his movements.

"W-What is going on?" Sakura asked, confused as to what was going on with her body.

The two combatants continued to walk towards each other, eventually ending up within half a metre of each other – too close for comfort for Sakura.

"Kagemane no Jutsu – Shadow Imitation Technique." Shikamaru explained. "I basically use my shadow connected to yours to control each and every movement of your body. And our shadows connected the moment that you delivered that wicked punch on my face."

Seeing that Sakura's kunai was in its holster on her thigh, Shikamaru then motioned himself grabbing a non-existent kunai on his body, causing Sakura to grab her own weapon.

"W-What are you planning on doing?"

"Sakura, you probably would have fared better had you used the bunshin at the beginning of the match instead of when you ran out of shuriken. Unfortunately for you, I plan on winning this match."

The kunai was then turned to point at Sakura's neck, and Shikamaru slowly moved it to just touch and put a small pressure on Sakura's skin. Sakura panicked at the turn of events. She thought that she had the advantage all along, but Shikamaru managed to seize the small window of opportunity he was given. She should have taken Naruto's advice and been more weary of him.

"Sakura, I suggest that you surrender now."

Sakura's eyes welled up with tears as she despaired on how badly things had turned out. This was supposed to be her chance to prove herself that she was a capable ninja, not just a fangirl coming along for the ride with Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun. Yet despite all the advantages that she had in the beginning, she couldn't even beat the dead last of the class. She wanted to win this match…she needed to win this match!

Unfortunately for Sakura, her very own hand had put slightly more pressure on her neck, causing the kunai to nick her skin and bleed out a few drops of blood. What kind of a ninja was she, who didn't even have control over her own body! It was one thing for her to lose control when fighting against the Chief Elder of Kiri when they were in Nami, but now she was losing control against the dead last of the class. With the bead of warm blood running down her neck and onto her chest, Sakura's last ounce of will was sapped as she finally gave in to Shikamaru's demand.

"I-I surrender…"

Shikamaru immediately dispelled the jutsu, somewhat glad that he did not have to resort to more drastic measures. As he collapsed on the ground writhing in pain with three shuriken embedded in him, Aoba looked up to the Sandaime Hokage to seek his opinion. Sarutobi merely looked down and nodded, ratifying the decision that Sakura made.

"Winner: Nara Shikamaru"

As a couple of medics walked in to attend to Shikamaru, Sakura could only fall on the ground on her knees with tears running down her face, silently lamenting her lack of ability and woefully convinced that she did not have what it took to be a ninja.


End file.
